PS5 sold 50 million times, Sony says

Milestone reached in similar timeframe as PS4

Sony announced that it sold 50 million units of the PS5 to customers between the console’s debut in November 2020 and December 9, 2023. It took the PS4 a similar amount of time (160 weeks vs. the PS5's 161 weeks) to reach this milestone, so it’s quite impressive that the PS5 was able to achieve it in this time window despite the severe supply issues that hampered the console’s early sales.

Looking at it that way, the PS5 could’ve likely reached this milestone a lot earlier were it not for that external factor early in its lifetime.

50 million customers have purchased a PS5 / Sony

Sony revealed that November 2023 marked a new record for sold PlayStation consoles and credited games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, and EA Sports FC 24 for the console’s massive growth and momentum.

“Achieving this PS5 sales milestone is a testament to the unwavering support of the global PlayStation community and their passion for the incredible experiences created by the talented developers from PlayStation Studios and our partners,” said Jim Ryan, the outgoing president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. “We’re grateful for all of our players who have joined the PS5 journey so far, and we’re thrilled that this is the first holiday season since launch that we have a full supply of PS5 consoles – so anyone who wants to get one can get one.”

A recent leak of highly sensitive data from Sony’s first-party studio Insomniac has revealed that Sony is quite worried about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it sees as a huge challenge to overcome in the future. Recent investment activity in South Korea, where it signed agreements with NCSOFT and Shift Up, as well as Japan, where it entered into a partnership with Akatsuki, might be viewed as a reaction to the Xbox maker’s move. Japan has always been a development powerhouse and South Korea’s vast array of domestic products is finding more and more audiences worldwide as well, making footholds there a valuable commodity.

For now, Microsoft doesn’t seem to be much of a threat for Sony in the console market. While that may change in the future, the PS5 is clearly dominating the current round.