Yesterday, Microsoft reported revenue for the fourth quarter of its 2021 fiscal year. While the company didn"t reveal exact sales figures, it did highlight that gaming revenue grew by 11% (7% in Constant Currency (CC)), with hardware revenues increasing by 172% YoY (163% in CC), making the latest Xbox devices the fastest-selling consoles in the Redmond giant"s history. Today, Sony has disclosed some sales figures for its PlayStation 5 consoles as well.
Sony officially unveiled the pricing for its PlayStation 5 consoles in September 2020, and the machines were made available for purchase in November 2020. Due to strong demand, global chip shortages, and scalpers, the company has struggled to supply retailers with units.
However, Reuters now reports that Sony has confirmed to it via email that 10 million PlayStation 5 units have been sold as of July 18, 2021. For reference, it took Sony nine months to sell the same number of PlayStation 4 consoles, which makes the PS5 the company"s fastest-selling console lineup in history as well.
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan also admitted that the firm is facing difficulties in keeping up with the demand, saying that:
We"ve built more PlayStations faster than we ever have before which makes me happy. But on the other hand, we"re some time from being able to meet all the demand that"s out there, which makes me feel bad. Our partners are performing really well for us, but the chip shortage is definitely a challenge that we are all navigating.
Sony also revealed that it has sold 6.5 million copies of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, though it is important to remember that the title is cross-generation. While Microsoft didn"t disclose the number of Xbox units sold, Niko Partners" Senior Analyst Daniel Ahmad estimates that a total of 6.5 million Xbox Series X and Series S consoles had been sold as of June 30, 2021. The consoles were made available for purchase on November 10, a few days earlier than the PlayStation 5.