Sony’s PlayStation 4 has sold more than 6 million units in just four months, including 370,000 units sold in Japan since its February 22 release in Sony’s home market, reports Lance Whitney for CNET, putting it well past the 5 million units it had originally hoped to sell by the end of the month, as Sony continues to dominate the console market. The PS4 is now available in 57 countries.
Sony also reported that it had sold 13.7 million software titles, both through brick and mortar outlets and through the PlayStation Store, and more than half of PS4 users have signed up for the company’s PlayStation Plus subscription service at $10 per month or $50 per year.
PS4 also hits on e-sports, social aspect
The PS4 is also showing that it can play a major role in the growth of e-sports, which are video games played for an audience. While streaming may still seem strange to people outside the gaming community, Sony reports that it has broadcast more than 3.6 million gaming sessions via Twitch and Ustream. While some of those sessions may have had few to no viewers, many attract thousands of spectators and represent an important new way for Sony to interact with gamers.
Sony also said that there have been more than 100 million uses of the controller’s ‘Share’ button, showing that users are embracing the social aspect of Sony’s platform, an important factor for keeping players invested in the PS4 over other consoles.
PS4 takes solid lead over Xbox One
By the end of 2013 there was no clear winner between the PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, but there were signs that the PS4 had better momentum among core gamers, and even then it was clear that sales were ahead of schedule passing the three million mark by year’s end. Nintendo no longer controls a large portion of the console gaming market.
But the PS4 took a solid lead in January when it doubled the Xbox One’s sales numbers, and it became clear that the race had only appeared close because of supply chain issues that left a great deal of pent-up demand among gamers who waiting for a new PlayStation. The PS4 costs $100 less than the Xbox One, which makes it more attractive to gamers on a budget, but it’s also been praised for having a better overall design and better controllers than the Xbox One.
