Sony must be over the moon with the performance of the PlayStation 5 since its launch late last year, as its sales statistics have even surpassed those of the PlayStation 4 within the same window.
As per this tweet from Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners, the console has sold in 7.8 million units according to data from March 31, 2021 supplied by Sony. Of this enormous shift, 3.3 million were shipped in the first quarter of this year, showing that the console is unlikely to dip in demand any time soon. In comparison, its predecessor sold in 7.6 million units in the equivalent time frame in 2013. To hammer the success of the PlayStation 5 home, the PlayStation 4 is the second best-selling home video game console ever, with the PlayStation 2 perched on that throne. If you're yet to get your mitts on a PlayStation 5, or you're still watching how it pans out for this console versus the Xbox Series X, we've got a review for you right here.
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Furthermore, almost 340 million digital and physical games were sold for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 over the last fiscal year. Expectedly, over half of these sales were digital which is an increase of 12% year-on-year. Given that the general health advice is to distance from other households and to stay home for as long as possible to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, this statistic isn't much of a surprise. PlayStation Network and PlayStation Plus also saw changes over the year, with the former falling by five million subscribers and the latter increasing by 6.1 million subscribers.
Sony has been keen to capitalise on the increased leisure time within lots of households as offices told their employees to work from home and universities and schools chose to deliver their lessons remotely. Its Play At Home initiative released Ratchet & Clank for free in March, and it was accompanied by another nine indie games that were free to nab in April. Until May 15th, players are also eligible to download one of the best action-adventures out there, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, once again at no extra cost. So, what are you waiting for? Set yourself up a blanket cocoon, order a takeaway, and begin Aloy's epic journey across post-apocalyptic America.
Featured Image Credit: Kerde Severin via Pexels, Insomniac GamesTopics: News, PlayStation, Horizon Zero Dawn