The PlayStation brand is as strong as it ever was.
Sony announced today that its PlayStation 4 console has passed over 40 million systems sold worldwide as of May 22. The company notes that it is the fastest-selling console in its history, which includes the best-selling system of all time, the PlayStation 2 (with 155 million units). Sony also said that sales of games for the PS4, digital and retail, are at 270.9 million. The PlayStation 4 originally released on November 2013.
Sony’s competitor Microsoft has not given out lifetime sales numbers for the Xbox One in some time. However, Electronic Arts did note recently that total sales for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were at 55 million at the end of 2015. That was before the May 22 cutoff date of Sony’s recent numbers. Still, it’s clear that the PlayStation 4 has a healthy lead.
“We are truly grateful for the enormous support from our fans and partners across the globe, which helped us achieve this significant milestone in such a short span of time,” said Andrew House, president and global chief executive officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment, in the press release. “We will strive to deliver even more exciting gaming experiences to our users, further driving the momentum and accelerating the expansion of the PS4 platform and its business this fiscal year by offering an unparalleled line-up of games, bringing our virtual reality system, PlayStation VR, to market, and providing ground-breaking features and network services.”
Along with PlayStation VR, Sony is rumored to be working on an improved version of the PlayStation 4 that would include support for 4K resolutions, supposedly codenamed Neo.