Sony Sold 4.5 Million PlayStation 5 Consoles in 2020

Sony has announced that its shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in 2020. Despite keeping up with demand, the published information Sony has given during the company’s latest earnings report indicates a strong first quarter for the console.

Recently, Sony published its financial report for the third quarter, which ended on December 31st, 2020. As reported by Engadget, the company sold 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in 2020. The total unit shipped matches the PlayStation 4 in its launch quarter back in 2013, where Sony shipped 4.5 million units. Adding to that, Sony’s Q3 report indicates that 1.4 million PlayStation 4 consoles were also shipped.

Despite stock shortages across the board, PlayStation 5 still made a splash across the globe. On November 12th, Sony launched the console in North America, Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, and Singapore. A week later, the console launched and ever since retailers have struggled to keep up with demand.

The combined total of consoles sold helped Sony’s PlayStation division achieve its best fiscal quarter in history. When compared to the results of the same quarter in 2019, Sony’s Q3 2020 results showed an increase of 40 percent and $8.4 billion in revenue. Profits also rose 50 percent to $763 million during the quarter. This was largely due to the increase in game sales, which totalled $4.6 billion. Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription also saw an increase of nine percent.

Elsewhere in the report, Sony announced that it was selling the PlayStation 5 console at a loss. Sony stated that the company is eating the manufacturing cost of the console, though it resulted in “strategic price points for PS5 hardware”.

With demand and overall reception quite high for the PlayStation 5, Sony must now seek to manufacture more units in 2021 to keep the momentum going. With a strong output of first-party games and third-party partnerships, the PlayStation 5 is a compelling purchase, especially in a time when gaming is reaching a larger audience due to the pandemic.