Consumer Electronics

Sony Sells 5.7 Million PS4s During Holiday, All-Time Total Reaches 35.9 Million

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 6, 2016 6:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:24 pm

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) continues its global race with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) for dominance in the game console business. In a recent announcement, the Japanese company disclosed it sold 5.7 million units of its PlayStation 4, also know as PS4, over the holidays. This brings total sales since PS4 was introduced to 39.5 million. PS4 has been a bright spot for troubled Sony, which continues to struggle with many of its businesses.

Sony’s PS4 competes with the Microsoft Xbox One, which matches it in features and price point. Xbox always has been a curious product for Microsoft to make and market. It has no meaningful direct link to Microsoft’s other hardware or to Windows or cloud products. Xbox One does, however, move a Microsoft product into consumer homes where it acts as an entertainment hub due to its game, movie and broadband features. Microsoft sells the Xbox One for $349.

PS4 matches the Xbox One almost exactly in features. It also bundles video games with the console to make it more attractive to gamers. Microsoft does the same.

The Sony announcement:

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that the PlayStation®4 (PS4™) computer entertainment system has sold through more than 5.7 million units*1 during the 2015 holiday season*2. PS4 has now cumulatively sold through more than 35.9 million units globally as of January 3, 2016.

With robust support from users and partners from around the globe, PS4 software sales also remained strong during the 2015 holiday season*2 with more than 35 million*3 copies sold in retail stores worldwide and through digital downloads on PlayStation®Store as of January 3, 2016.

Sony management has to continue to buy time as investor concern about its future grows. For the time being, PS4 sales are among the only bright spots management can point to.