2016 was billed as a promising year for Sony, and the holiday season seems to confirm that original expectation. According to a press release from Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation 4 hardware family sold over six million units across the worldwide holiday season.
The press report notes that the PlayStation 4 sold through over 6.2 million units throughout the holiday season worldwide, from the Americas to Japan. Globally, the PlayStation 4 family has sold through 53.4 million units as of Jan 1. Software sales also reveal that more than 50.4 million copies of PS4 software were sold via retail and digital sales over the holidays, with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End selling through over 8.7 million copies as of Dec 21.
“We are truly grateful for the tremendous support from our fans and partners, which has helped to make this holiday season one of the best in our history,” Andrew House, President and CEO of SIE said. “We will aim to continue the momentum this year by broadening the PS4 title portfolio, further enriching the revolutionary gaming experiences on PlayStation VR and high quality gaming experience on PlayStation4 Pro, while also expanding network services. We will remain steadfast in making the PS4 the best place to play.”
Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad also provided some insight into the press release. He believes the report’s brief announcement is due to the fact that Sony missed their overall sell through target goal for 2016. However, he pointed out that the PlayStation 4 performed well compared to 2015, building on the prior year’s success.
Sony were probably expecting more from the holiday season.
They’ll fall short of their PS4 sales target for FY2016/17 imo.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 5, 2017
For reference, during the same period last year-
5.7 million PS4’s were sold during the same period last year
35 million units of software— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 5, 2017
This chart is based on preliminary data.
Shows how PS4 is performing relative to other consoles. pic.twitter.com/IRGlHmzqGk
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 5, 2017
Ahmad’s data certainly shows that the PlayStation 4 is one of the best performing consoles within a 50 month cycle in recent history. Performing with a similar trajectory to the Nintendo Wii at first, and then competing with its own predecessor, the PlayStation 2, the PS4 certainly seems to have a promising year ahead. Check back as more information on PS4 sell through statistics are published.
