Sony’s Playstation 4 console has surpassed 6 million sales since launching in November 2013. Reports indicate the figure was close to 5.3 million units before the console was released in Japan last month. Since then, it has sold an additional 370,000 pushing it into the new figure. This is an astonishing amount of sales when compared to the Japanese launch of the Playstation 3 back in 2006, which totalled over 88,000 consoles.
Currently, results are also indicating that around 13.7 million games have also been sold for the PS4, over 2 million of which include the launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall. The electronics giant has announced their joy at reaching such huge figures in just 4 months, with Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House stating he was “delighted that PS4 is off to such a great start,” referencing the launch of the new-gen console in Japan.
Playstation 4 users have also been busy interacting with the community across the internet, with more than 3.6 million live broadcasts being streamed over the console through the broadcast websites Twitch and Ustream. The vice-president of marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment said in a company blog that “since January 1st, PS4 gamers account for 20 percent of daily broadcasts on Twitch.” He has also said that users have embraced the new Share button featured on the console’s Dualshock wireless controller (just one of many new additions to the revamped peripheral).
The news of the sales figures means the Playstation 4 has already smashed its target of selling 5 million units by the end of march 2014, beating the forecast figures by over 1 million before the end of the financial year. Recent figures for Microsoft’s rival console, Xbox One, show the hardware has reached around 3.9 million worldwide since January 2014. With the recent UK price reductions and the launch of Titanfall, these numbers are expected to increase rapidly.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Are you a Playstation 4 fan, or do you prefer the Xbox One? Let us know in the comments.