PS4 Sells 4.2 Million Units in 2013

[StewShearerOld]

PS4 Sells 4.2 Million Units in 2013

In 2013 the PS4 beat out the Xbox One by more than a million units sold.

Yesterday, Microsoft revealed that it had sold a whopping CES 2014 conference today, Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House revealed that the company sold more than 4.2 million units between November 15th and December 28th.

While this was somewhat less than House's own target of 5 million <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127943-Sony-Aims-to-Sell-5-Million-PS4s-in-2013>before the end of 2013, they're nonetheless impressive figures that the company hopes to expand on going forward. "The momentum of the PS4 system keeps getting stronger and we couldn't be more thrilled gamers worldwide are enjoying the incredibly immersive gaming experiences along with deep social capabilities and entertainment provided by our network," said House. "After a remarkable launch, we look forward to bringing even more exciting content and continuing to explore the power of the PS4 system by adding new features and services, including PlayStation Now, in 2014."

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131089-PlayStation-Now-Streaming-Service-Unveiled-at-CES-2014>PlayStation Now will be a new streaming gaming service <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130132-PS4-Gaikai-Streaming-Service-Set-for-NA-in-2014>previously discussed to be a potential method for PS4 owners to play older PlayStation titles on the backwards incompatible console. At CES, Sony confirmed that it will allow devices including game consoles, tablets, smartphones and televisions to use Now to stream PlayStation games from years past. While you could make a case for a multiplatform service like that not exactly being a system-selling feature for the PS4, we're getting the feeling that Sony isn't too worried about that given the console's current success.

Source: <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2014/1/7/5284336/sony-playstation-ces-2014-ps4>Polygon


Permalink

 

[balladbird]

I thought sony's goal was 5 million by march? expecting to sell 5 million in just a month and some change is pretty unbelievable.


that said, I'm happy to see the console generation doing so well, even if the systems are selling without any sort of killer app to play on them.

 

[Roxas1359]

snip

You are incorrect on one of your figures. Sony expects to sell 5 million PS4s before March 31st, 2014 because that's the end of the financial year in Japan. Sony's initial expectation was to sell 3 million before January of 2014, which seems as though they did. Although just like the Xbox One figure, I'm not sure if I trust the PS4's either.

I thought sony's goal was 5 million by march? expecting to sell 5 million in just a month and some change is pretty unbelievable.

The author got it wrong as they expect to sell 5 million before March 2014. They expected to sell at least 3 million before the end of 2013.

 

[Ninja_Bob117]

True through the most systems are being sold on a feature set rather than Killer apps

 

[fix-the-spade]

I thought sony's goal was 5 million by march?

Their forecast was for 5million units sold by the end of the financial year, so technically by April.

They might be revising that number up now, which must be a relief after the PS3/Vita launches, over thirty percent more than your nearest competitor is impressive.

 

[Roxas1359]

Their forecast was for 5million units sold by the end of the financial year, so technically by April.

Well by March 31st as April 1st restarts the financial year inside Japan, it's also the day that kids have to start a new year of school. For the US, March 31st is the end of the second financial quarter it seems, and in Europe there are way too many countries for me to look up all the financial year calendars. Go laziness.

 

[BrotherRool]

Oh wow, Sony keep on dropping the hammer. When Microsoft announced they'd sold 3 million they actually briefly had a bit of momentum, lots of comments like 'the balls back in Sony's court, they have to do something now'

And then immediately smashed right back.

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D

This is terrible news for the Wii U too, the PS4 is only about 300,000 units behind it and it's only been out for a couple of months.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I wonder if they rounded to 4.2 because they wanted to say they outsold Microsoft by more than 1 million units, or because they wanted to make a Douglas Adams reference. I hope it was the latter.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Probably would've gone all the way if a few games hadn't been pushed back. None the less, I wouldn't say that's a bad figure.

 

[mysecondlife]

I wonder if they rounded to 4.2 because they wanted to say they outsold Microsoft by more than 1 million units, or because they wanted to make a Douglas Adams reference. I hope it was the latter.

Who's to say Microsoft didn't roundup their sales figure to 3 million?

 

[Iosifavich]

I wonder if they rounded to 4.2 because they wanted to say they outsold Microsoft by more than 1 million units, or because they wanted to make a Douglas Adams reference. I hope it was the latter.

Who's to say Microsoft didn't roundup their sales figure to 3 million?

It is extremely common to round up in Press Releases/Announcements since those numbers are under constant revision as sales continue even as the announcement is being made. Well it just sounds better to say "We have sold 3 million units!" rather then 2,980,012 units!"

We find and sales analysis the any reasonably honest company will find their current unit sales at the time of the press release is prepared then add in the projected number of unit sales to estimate the total sales at the time the release is released then round up to the nearest decimal.

So a example is that 2.91 million becomes 3 million and 4.11 million become 4.2 million. But because Microsoft is going to check in to their market share on a constant basis Sony knows they cant just bold face lie in their press release because if they do and Microsoft catches them the negative press of "Sony lied about PS4 sales they really only sold 2.9 million units" would make the XBox One look better a lot better. And cost Sony potential PS4 buyers that are waiting to see where the market goes.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

 

[BrotherRool]

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

That's true, and even if it is, it is only one game (the sequel of which will probably be multiplatform). But what people have touched so far has impressed them which means it has a good chance of being good (unless it turns out to be a buggy mess like Battlefield 4).

Of course inFamous: Second Son is probably going to rock and come out at a similar time, but I don't know if that's really a system seller even if it is as amazing as 2 was

 

[weirdee]

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

also titanfall is pc release also, so

*shrug*

haven't really been impressed so far

 

[Saltyk]

Those are pretty good sales figures. I wonder what the figures will be at the end of March. This is well on the way to hitting the 5 million number.

And now we play the waiting game.

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

That's true, and even if it is, it is only one game (the sequel of which will probably be multiplatform). But what people have touched so far has impressed them which means it has a good chance of being good (unless it turns out to be a buggy mess like Battlefield 4).

Of course inFamous: Second Son is probably going to rock and come out at a similar time, but I don't know if that's really a system seller even if it is as amazing as 2 was

Well, Destiny is also slated for roughly the same window and while it is multiplatform it has exclusive content on the PS4. That could be every bit as much of a system mover as Infamous or Titanfall. Probably wouldn't hurt either system, but I'd see people with both buying the PS4 version and those looking to buy a system specifically for that game to choose PS4 due to the more affordable system and the extra content.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

That's true, and even if it is, it is only one game (the sequel of which will probably be multiplatform). But what people have touched so far has impressed them which means it has a good chance of being good (unless it turns out to be a buggy mess like Battlefield 4).

Of course inFamous: Second Son is probably going to rock and come out at a similar time, but I don't know if that's really a system seller even if it is as amazing as 2 was

Well, Destiny is also slated for roughly the same window and while it is multiplatform it has exclusive content on the PS4. That could be every bit as much of a system mover as Infamous or Titanfall. Probably wouldn't hurt either system, but I'd see people with both buying the PS4 version and those looking to buy a system specifically for that game to choose PS4 due to the more affordable system and the extra content.

That and the fact sony was the one to market the shit out of destiny so everyone associates it with sony primarily. Titanfall also doing the same thing as its also on pc but everyone thinks its an xbone exclusive.

Marketing ignores inconvenient facts.

OT: Once again sony is more then eager to give the xbone a good thrashing. It's almost ridiculous at this point.

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Both of these numbers from Sony and Microsoft are interesting but one thing I haven't seen brought up yet is that the PS4 is sold in 35 more countries than the Xbox One. The only reason I bring this up is because everyone was sure as hell to bring up the point about the Xbox One only sold a million on launch day because it was available in more countries but now that the PS4 has this advantage no one is mentioning it.

I say we'll have to wait until both consoles are released completely (PS4 in Japan and Xbox One where ever else it's going to be sold) then we'll be able to have a better insight on how both consoles are going. Though it's most likely PS4's Japan sales will be higher than when the Xbox One releases in other countries.

 

[RicoADF]

Of course the first year still isn't as important as the second and I expect the Xbox to take a big leap in popular opinion when Titanfall comes out but Sony are riding the advantage better than I thought. Some people didn't believe they were going to hit their 5 million by March =D.

there's no guarantee Titan will be any gkod, until its release

That's true, and even if it is, it is only one game (the sequel of which will probably be multiplatform). But what people have touched so far has impressed them which means it has a good chance of being good (unless it turns out to be a buggy mess like Battlefield 4).

Of course inFamous: Second Son is probably going to rock and come out at a similar time, but I don't know if that's really a system seller even if it is as amazing as 2 was

Titanfall is multi platform, its on XBO, 360 and PC. It's just not on Playstation because EA are bloody sellouts.

I'll be getting the PC version myself, probably a few months after it's released as EA is very hit and miss.

 

[BrotherRool]

Titanfall is multi platform, its on XBO, 360 and PC. It's just not on Playstation because EA are bloody sellouts.

I'll be getting the PC version myself, probably a few months after it's released as EA is very hit and miss.

That's still going to be a boost to the XBO. For the people who aren't PC right now, going PC normally isn't much of an option, and so for the people picking a next-gen console, they can be swayed by something like this.

It's stupid, because it's not even a first-party title, so the only reason it had any chance of working was because it was the start of a generation and Microsoft paid $20 million or whatever, and despite that I think EA are still going to lose money on that deal. There are already too many PS4's (and Titanfall will probably be too much of a success) for Microsoft to have given them enough money to make up for lost sales

 

[RicoADF]

That's still going to be a boost to the XBO. For the people who aren't PC right now, going PC normally isn't much of an option, and so for the people picking a next-gen console, they can be swayed by something like this.

It's stupid, because it's not even a first-party title, so the only reason it had any chance of working was because it was the start of a generation and Microsoft paid $20 million or whatever, and despite that I think EA are still going to lose money on that deal. There are already too many PS4's (and Titanfall will probably be too much of a success) for Microsoft to have given them enough money to make up for lost sales

Quite quite true, and honestly I think EA deserves to lose out on the game. Sick of companies selling out like that, it's one thing to pick a system based on ease to work on or because the company is published by the system seller, it's quite different in this case where EA screws over the customer intentionally just to get a payout from Microsoft. They deserve to loose every cent that they do.