PlayStation 5 surpasses Xbox One in lifetime sales but still misses Sony's revised yearly target

In brief: Sony has published its financial report for the fourth quarter of its financial year, revealing that the total number of PlayStation 5 units sold since launch has now passed 59.2 million, putting it above the Xbox One in terms of lifetime sales. However, the console missed Sony's revised sales target for the quarter.

Sony had originally forecast that it would move 25 million PS5 units during its financial year, but lower-than-expected sales meant the only way to reach that figure would be for 10 million PS5 consoles to be sold in the final quarter. That was never going to happen, so Sony revised its yearly target down by 4 million to 21 million units.

The 4.5 million PS5 units sold in Q4 takes the yearly total to 20.8 million, just 200,000 short of Sony's revised target. It also marked a decline of almost 2 million units compared to the 6.3 million consoles sold during the same quarter a year earlier.

As for the current fiscal year, Sony predicts sales of 18 million across the 12 months. That would take the lifetime total to 71.2 million, putting it above the NES and behind the Nintendo 3DS (75.94 million). The PS5 would still be a long way behind the PS4's lifetime sales of 117.2 million, but the PlayStation 5 Pro is expected to launch later this year.

Sony also revealed that Helldivers 2 sold 12 million copies across both the PlayStation 5 and PC in the first 12 weeks since launch, an amazing 1 million copies per week. That makes it Sony's fastest-selling PlayStation title of all time. There was a slew of controversy around the game after Sony forced PC players to log into a PSN account, a requirement that it reversed following a global outcry.

Overall, Sony reported that its operating profits for FY 2023 were down 7% YoY. The company said its financial services arm was the main culprit behind the falling profit. The imaging and sensing solutions business also saw a yearly decline in operating income, falling 9%.

Before the financial results were announced, Sony named veteran execs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino as co-CEOs of PlayStation. Hulst will be head of Sony Interactive Entertainment's (SIE) studio business group, while Nishino will be appointed CEO of SIE's platform business group. The move comes a few months after former PlayStation leader Jim Ryan retired.

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PlayStation 5 surpasses Xbox One in lifetime sales but still misses Sony's revised yearly target

Consoles just need to be a PC setup for gaming out of the box. I don't think we'll ever get there but I think MS is getting close so we'll see. The hardware is nearly identical at this point and the only thing keeping the console industry going is exclusives. Nintendo can do what they like, I only Care about 3 games they have, Zelda, Mario Kart and Smash Brothers. The other 2 are only fun if you're playing with other people and the last 2 Zelda games I just borrowed my friends switch for a month for $20.

If the switch 2 doesn't have AA and I have deal with jaggies like it's 1995 on my 65" 4k TV then I'm just going to emulate the latest Zelda games.

Ouch, that's a close one for Sony! Beating the Xbox One is nice, but missing that sales target by a hair has gotta sting. Maybe the chip shortage is still hitting them hard? 18 million this year seems ambitious too. Still, good news for Helldivers 2, that's some crazy sales! Hopefully they learned their lesson about forcing PC players into PSN accounts though.