Sony is no longer providing shipment updates for the PS4, its previous console. While the system remains very relevant in terms of software support, and the platform holder did commit to manufacturing more, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad noted that the organisation appears to have pulled the plug on new official sales data for the format.
It’s hardly a huge surprise: in the previous fiscal year, the firm shipped just one million units – and it’ll likely flog even less in the current fiscal year. That means that the format’s official total will tally around 117.2 million units, making it the second best-selling home console of all time, behind only the PS2. If you want to include handhelds, then the Game Boy and Nintendo DS are above it as well.
It’s highly likely that the Nintendo Switch will surpass the PS4’s record later this year, but clearly the console is in esteemed company. It’ll be interesting to see whether the PS5 can match these numbers: rising costs, an impending recession, stock limitations, and intense competition might prevent the company from achieving its goals – but let’s see what the next five or so years have in store.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 48
the switch is a dock-able handheld like how the GBA was with the gamecube , so it ain’t surprising if a handheld outsells an old console imo
Switch is way more affordable and Nintendo is still releasing Games outside the typical AAA Genre and for all ages and demographics. So obviously it will vastly outsell the PS4 at the end of its lifetime
The PS4 was a great system with one of the greatest libraries of all time.
The end of an era. Sort of.
Naysayers aside and developer nervous breakdowns aside, I'll still always be partial to PS3 as the more special console and a more interesting time of competition and "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" game ideas, but the PS4 is an icon for sure.
Ironically now that my PS4 is set up as a headless streaming console, it's getting far more use than my PS5!
@IonMagi do you ever have anything positive to say about PlayStation 99% of your comments here are negative towards PlayStation.
It will become tough for PS5 to sell similar numbers. I think chances are 50:50 that China will attack Taiwan, which would result both in a economic world war with massive sanctions and in a stop of chip supply from Taiwan. Chip manufacturing focus would shift completely from consumer electronics to chips for automotive and industry.
This must be the first Sony console not to get a final revision after it successfully came out. The impact of shortages have certainly are negatively affected the PS4’s tail.
@4kgk2 I have, when Sony actually does good stuff
@4kgk2 Probably because there's nothing positive to talk about. Sony abandoned the handheld market and their Japanese teams. Are eyeing Square Enix and if they do get them will probably Westernize them to the point that their games will unrecognizable and would likely become story driven cinematics like the other 1st party games, etc. I do like Sony IP and many of their games, but as a company they are every bit as bad as Microsoft, just with less money to throw around.
@Ryall Im certain that a final revision with some money taken would have sold really well.
@TowaHerschel7 They arent eyeing Square Enix lol, Jimbo is mostly interested in buying small/super cheap Studio to develop GaaS. Remember, they want to Release 10 in less than 4 years haha
@IonMagi they are definitely eyeing them, but ultimately it's all down to if Square puts themselves on the market to be purchased.
@TowaHerschel7 Biggest prove that they arent is that some People claimed they have heard about it. The big aquisitions like Bethesda and ActiBlizz were so Top Secret that literally nobody knew about it. Look at what Studios they bought do far... Haven, Nixxes, BP, Insomniac...all cheap and with basically zero IPs.
Tencent or Netease will go for Square Enix tho Imho
@NEStalgia heh , i got a fondness for the ps3 too ; my favorite playstation personally & a badass system . though overall 360 is the best console ever imo , the ps3 just didn’t get the spotlight it deserved ; sony went all out with it and the ambition is unmatched . they just played their cards right with the ps4 , which made the ps4 so good in its own right .
Ps5 will be 2 years old in November. Another year and we will start seeing rumors for mid cycle refresh.
Wait wait. There was that narrative that Sony was going to produce a HUGE amount of PS4s for a while because they greedy and can’t make enough PS5 and other expert narratives like they Uturn on whatever can be Uturned Haha
Oh I know let’s complain they stop reporting the numbers now. 😅
Anyway fantastic machine. My OG PS4 is still fine and was on every day for years.
Here’s to PS5 gen which is even better obviously unless in denial.
@nomither6 PS3 was special. Not always for good reasons, but it definitely was special lol . In some ways it was Sony's "N64" episode when pretty much the only things worth buying on it were the exclusive things. I didn't actually want a 360 but ended up buying one and liking it after realizing everything 3rd party ran horribly on PS3. But so much that did hit PS3 specifically was so ambitious and experimental, it's just hard not to love it. PS4 stepped back from that and despite its popularity became so formulaic. A big part of that was Kaz Hirai going all-in and sales failure or not, knew that to invest in the future they had to invest in the present even at a loss. They made something really special despite the bad place it was in as a result.
PS3 vs PS4 is almost a rematch of PS1 vs PS2. PS2 and PS4 are the sales icons and dominant figures of their period, but also are both much more pedestrian compared to their exotic and hyper-ambitious predecessors. I tend to personally love PS1 and PS3 more than PS2 and PS4 for those reasons. And PSP will always be special, even if I no longer have fingerprints on my left thumb as a result
I have some super fond memories of the early days of my PS3 phat that just aren't matched by anything PS4 or 5 so far.
@NEStalgia i feel the exact same way . loved the PSP too , it was a crazy handheld for its time , sony was something else with their style and direction back then. it made somewhat of a comeback with the PS5 , but it ain’t the risky sony of yesterday . their exclusives now are also formulaic and very ..safe ? they’re just going with the present like you said
@IonMagi same thing happened with Wiiu, yet it failed. Affordability and games for all ages aren't enough
@naruball WiiU suffered from a barebone First and 3rd Party Support. So basically like the Vita lol. And the WiiU was not as cheap like the Switch. If you wanted the Version with the bar and in black it was 339€. Switch Lite is 150€
I always think of the Switch as being a console for kids (I don’t mean that in an insulting way). Maybe because I associate the Switch with my young Nephews and they take them everywhere. But the Switch (and Nintendo products/games in general) have never appealed to me.
I do think the Switch probably appeals to younger kids more than say, Xbox or PlayStation, which probably have more appeal with older kids/adults. And I imagine parents are probably more willing to buy a £300 Switch than a £450-500 Xbox/PS5 (and a TV if they don’t already have one).
Or maybe I’m just talking nonsense 🤣
@nomither6 We all laughed at PSP Go when it came out, but darnit that device was so slick, and today, it would be a dream to own! It was so far ahead of its time it had no market at all. That was such a golden age for them. Even if it wasn't a very profitable age.
@BritneyfR_ee Switch's marketing is aimed largely at 20-30-something urbanites. And it's the default choice for parents since Nintendo is a safe and trusted name thanks to their kids brands and merch and lower cost. Realistically I think they have every group except the angsty teen/tween market, which disproportionately accounts for games sales, though. Which is why they're going to probably land as #2 selling console (or even #1 if the stars align.) Which is more amazing considering how many people bought PS2s as a DVD player and Wiis as a netflix streaming appliance.
It got an artificial boost with Animal Crossing mania, that was a once in a lifetime thing, though.
@IonMagi the same games that flopped on Wiiu have been massive success stories on switch. The games were never the problem. Wiiu had Zelda, Smash, Mario Kart, Mario, etc. Psvita had what? No comparison.
@JJ2 I don't think anyone has complained, it's just an observation that they're not updating the data anymore. More units will get shipped over the coming years I imagine, but officially the number will always be 117.2 now.
I'm always interested in the business side so an update wouldv'e been cool but with PS5 being on the market that's clearly the main focus now. And whether we ever get new updates or not, we know for PS4 did its job, which was gain market and mindshare back for PlayStation and give strong momentum heading into this gen.
@IonMagi I agree Switch and PS4 aren't a direct comparison really (just like Game Boy and DS are different as well) but you know what people are like. May as well include all the data.
just saying gb and gbc have a 9-year gap... that's more than ps4 to ps5.
@get2sammyb @IonMagi I don't think there's a need or a point to separate "handheld consoles" vs "home consoles" in these sorts of comparisons, really. A console is a console regardless it's form factor, and traditionally the sales charts have been static. Just a quick look at slightly out of date metrics, the current standings are:
Home console (PS2)
Handheld console (NDS)
Handheld console (NGB)
Home console (PS4)
Switch (both?)
Home console (PS1)
Home console (Wii)
Home Console (PS3)
Home console (X360)
Handheld console (GBA)
Handheld console (PSP)
Handheld console (3DS)
Home Console (NES)
etc.
Sega Game Gear ranks last, though, so....
it doesn't seem like there's a particular pattern that handhelds or home consoles perform better, it's a pretty random mix as to what hits the top with PS2 in the lead maybe or maybe not to be replaced by Switch.
@get2sammyb
Surely you understood I was making fun of people always complaining. 😅
Anyway I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce a different number later on. It’s common sense. It’s just not updated regularly of course because it’s isnt worth it.
Sony ceases shipment updates for ps4
I guess that's code for "start bickering". Man, yall really like to go at it, huh.
The PS3/360 was an end to an era, something you'll never see again in the console market. What's funny about the PS3 people are paying just under £500 for the PS5/XSX. The PS3 was at the time totally worth the money Sony ask for it at the time, the problem for the PS3 that it was probably too exotic. Sony lost $306.86 on every console sold, between both Sony & Microsoft they lost $8 billion with Sony lossing the most out of the two. It took years before they made a profit, hence both the PS4 & XboxOne.
So I guess from this we can officially say the crossgen period is over for PS after GoW Ragnarok. For Xbox it's probably the same after Pentiment (also releases in November).
It'll be interesting to see to what extent crossgen is present in 3rd party titles in 2023 and beyond.
PS4 took a lot of the X1 base. X1 was marketed so poorly and it's still an uphill battle for Microsoft.
I'd say it is hard to tell right now if PS5 is right to basically play PS4 built games due to the issues with everything. I'm not convinced we've actually had 9th generation experience, but playing improved PS4 games has made the PS5 relevant.
Like a few of you, PS3 is my favourite, it built the foundations for some of the PS4/5's best games and the variety of new and old games it could play.
The PS4 will never appeal to me like the PS1 and PS2 did, but it was unquestionably a force to be reckoned with, and Sony took amazing advantage of the competition tripping over their own feet with unpopular hardware and terrible messaging for their respective devices.
For a time, it also enjoyed exclusive access to the majority of worthwhile games coming out of Japanese home console developers, almost like when the PS1 first released.
Mid-last gen, it was the only really indispensable console on the market.
It'll be interesting to see how the PS5 stacks up as the generation rolls on.
@IonMagi It's so funny. When the Switch was first revealed, naysayers were predicting dismal sales numbers, whereas optimists were predicting between 50 - 80 mil units sold lifetime. The idea that it would match the Wii was absurd. Almost none of us dreamed it would go on to become one of the best-selling consoles of all time.
And this is coming off a generation where the combined unit sales of both their handheld and home console couldn't surpass 90 million units sold.
Ninty's fortunes have certainly reversed.
It’s incredible the games the PS4 has created on a mobile CPU that’s hated from day one. It’s not always about the hardware but how devs use it
@Luigia Some of Sony's internal teams are masters at getting the most out of the company's hardware. That Horizon Forbidden West runs as well as it does on PS4 when the hardware in it was a bit on the wimpy side even back in 2014 genuinely impresses me.
@Americansamurai1. Oh yeah i agree.the ps4 is amazing.i got my ps4 pro.the games in ps4 is some of the best ever.word up son
@WadeIsInsane I recall articles early on where even Sony executives were saying they weren't sure why people were snapping up PS4s like they were, lol.
I agree that Sony's early success with PS4 was, and I say this as non-judgmentally as possible, due in large part to the way they kicked Microsoft while they were down. The intensely negative reaction to Microsoft's disastrous reveal of the Xbox One shaped Sony's early marketing, decisions related to DRM, and pricing, and PS4's unveiling was intended, at every stage, to highlight the shortcomings of the competition in comparison to what they were offering.
I think sony should still do updates for the ps4,the ps5 will never be a big hit like all the other playstations,let's face it and be honest sony are running out of ideas now that's why they can't make many games for the ps5,and also if sony are moaning because they struggle to get the chips for playstation yeah?then why the hell was sony on about making a playstation 5 slim,now in my mind that's just to rip the public off once again.
Everybody in this thread is acting like this is the end of an era as if the PS4 isn't still getting new releases constantly including triple A games.
@WadeIsInsane Insomniac does not own Spyro. ActiBlizz does lol
@Ralizah couldn’t agree more and the amount of juice Sony have been able to squeeze from the PS4 is incredible.
Did someone say GT8 for PS4 😱
@PegasusActual93 I’m sure they’ll be making games for PS4 for years to come. Who can ignore an install base of over 117M consoles
@Ralizah a few things of interest regarding Nintendo…1. They recouped a lot of their losses from WiiU titles bc these games were brand new to new Switch owners. 2. Mario Kart became the default game purchase for new Switch owners. 3. How tha pandemic and subsequent chip shortage helped the Switch in general, but really blew up the popularity of Animal Crossing. It will sell more than 40 million before all is said and done.
@WadeIsInsane Insomniac did cost 200 Million. Thats indeed "cheap" lol. Sony wont and cant spend ~10ish Billion on a big Company with IPs like SE
@banacheck which is why i love the ps3 the most outta all playstations , they took next gen to a whole ‘nother level . they made so much money with the ps2 and it showed with the ps3 and they gave back their profits with how advanced the ps3 was . the OG fat PS3 had so many features and things you could do with it , so many usb ports , memory card slot , full true backwards compatibility across all playstations at the time , free online , insane media - it was the first “all in one” xbox one , built in wifi, could play blu-ray and regular CDs, insane customization and settings , web browser, rechargeable motion controller that lasted for AGES, & that glossy finish and design was just aesthetically classy and rich . you had to have bank and status as a gamer back then to have had a ps3 in the early days
I love the PS4. I have 2 PS4 pro consoles, one in use and another new/sealed. I also have 2 slim PS4's, one in use and the other new/sealed.
The way I see it is; if Sony were actually making PS4's right now they would sell like hot cakes. Earlier this year Argos had a ton of stock and they flew out the door. I don't think it's fair to compare PS4 sales with the Switch as it is absolutely impossible to buy a brand new PS4 99.9% of the time.
"the final total for the console is ~117.2 million as of March 2022." - didn't Sony order another million units around about that time??
Switch may well outsell the PS4s official figure - but then again the PS2 sold 157 million units but its 'official' figure is a new million less than that. Other thing is, many households will have 1 or 2 PS4s but will have 3 or 4 Switches - many will be the non-Switching Lites.
I couldn't find another PS4 Pro apart from a reconditioned one from CEX, so that should have been a new sale but Sony aren't making the proper one any more, instead flogging the base 500GB unit for a frankly ridiculous £260! Reduce the price to £199 with a decent game and the sales would pick up.
Still not found a reason to swap my Pro with internal SSD for a PS5.
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