The PS5 is having a pretty good run right now in terms of sales numbers. In the middle of 2021, Sony declared it the fastest selling PlayStation console, having sold more than 10 million units at the time. Now, two years later, that number is up to 40 million.
PlayStation announced the milestone on its website, thanking fans for their support. There was also a recounting of the early days of the console generation which was plagued by the chip shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps a bit ironically, the PS5 sold better in its earlier days, during said chip shortage, with the numbers slowing down since. In the half-year and a bit that it was released to the time it became the fastest selling PlayStation, it sold 10 million units as mentioned. But 4.5 million of this was within Q4 of 2020, and the console was only launched in November. It would then take two whole years to sell the other 30 million.
On the flip side, this, plus the fact that PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said earlier this year that the PS5 will be easier to get, means that if you really wanted one, it shouldn’t be too difficult to do so. And until more people do so, it will remain quite the long road ahead for the console to overtake its predecessor as the best selling console. For context, the PS4, with all its variations, sold nearly 103 million during its console generation.
(Source: PlayStation)
