Freed from the constraints of limited availability which hit all new generation consoles in 2021 and especially 2022, the PlayStation 5 was able to flourish in 2023, a year during which well over 20 million copies of the machine will have been sold. To the point of seeing its trajectory finally return to that of the PS4? Really not far: the PS5 needed 161 weeks to pass the 50 million mark, compared to 160 weeks for its big sister. As a reminder, when it crossed the 40 million sales milestone last July, the PS5 was still 2 months behind. The delay accumulated during the shortage is therefore disappearing completely, as the manufacturer predicted. And this while the PS5 displays a higher price than on the day of its launch. The PS4 had already experienced its first price drop at the same stage.
A historic month of November for the brand
According to Eric Lempel, vice president of sales and marketing, Black Friday activities resulted in the biggest November in the brand’s history in terms of console sales, both in volume and value. He adds that the manufacturer has carried out fewer promotions than during previous generations at the same stage. Candidate to succeed Jim Ryan, Lempel also confirmed the good start of the PlayStation Portal, while admitting that the takeoff of the PlayStation VR2 (and the virtual reality market in general) is less obvious. “ I think expectations were generally higher for VR’s impact on gaming », Estimates Lempel.
“ Gamer enthusiasm for the PS5 is stronger than ever, making this November the highest for PlayStation consoles sold to consumers. This momentum has been fueled by recent successes such as the critically acclaimed PS5 game Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games, as well as titles from celebrity partners such as Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios and Alan Wake 2 from Remedy Entertainment and Epic Games. EA SPORTS FC 24, the latest addition to the perennial sports favorite, and the debut of Roblox on PlayStation, which is aimed at gamers of all ages, have also been a hit with the community », We can read in the press release.
According to estimates provided by Ampere Analysis to the Financial Times site, Sony Interactive Entertainment sold 22.5 million PS5s in 2023 (+65%) compared to 16.4 million Switches for Nintendo (-18%) and 7.6 million Xbox Series for Microsoft (-15%).