PS5 Sells 10 Million Units, Fastest Selling Console in Sony's History

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Despite continuous component shortages and secondary market shenanigans

Sony press material showcasing the PS5 Digital Edition and PS5 side by side.
(Image credit: Sony)

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the gaming division of Sony corporation, today announced via a blog post that as of July 18th, the PS5 (see our PS5 review) sold a grand total of 10 million units since its launch in November 12, 2020. This marks the unlocking of an achievement for Sony, as the company has said that this cements the PS5 as the fastest selling console in the company's history.

This news comes despite the fact that there have been numerous component shortages throughout the hardware industry and its associated supply chains, both due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to overwhelming demand for gaming hardware, from graphics cards to CPUs and games consoles. That Sony has managed to sell 10 million units of the PS5 console just goes to show the demand there is for latest-gen gaming hardware, and is a testament to the company's ability to perform despite unforeseen circumstances in the world's playground.

While the PS5 still hasn't picked up its roster of exclusive gaming titles that are the bread and butter drivers of its sales, the company is gearing up for numerous high-profile launches throughout this year and 2022. One of those is Horizon: Forbidden West, which could still see its release date slip to 2022. 

A new God of War game still set in Norse mythology is also in the works, as is Grand Turismo 7 - both of these tend to be huge drivers for Playstation sales. Sooner than those, however, stands Arkane's Deathloop, a timed console exclusive contracted before the Microsoft buyout of Bethesda that was recently delayed to a September 13th launch date.

Ten million PS5 consoles in the hands of gamers sets Sony up for immense profits in software and services sales - besides signaling 10 million additional AMD-based gaming solutions. Putting Sony's announcement side by side with Microsoft's recent one regarding a 172% jump in console hardware sales just last month paints a clear picture on gaming's health and demand. So, while Microsoft came out ahead in our PS5 vs XBox Series X face-off, it's clear that both companies are winners in sales.

Francisco Pires
Francisco Pires
Freelance News Writer

Francisco Pires is a freelance news writer for Tom's Hardware with a soft side for quantum computing.

16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sizzling
    Interesting given the shortage in supply. I’m just surprised it’s only 10m, doesn’t seem that much globally. As a % of global console gaming households that must be a rather small % of the market.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    sizzling said:
    Interesting given the shortage in supply. I’m just surprised it’s only 10m, doesn’t seem that much globally. As a % of global console gaming households that must be a rather small % of the market.
    Arguably most of that would be concentrated in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, China, and Japan. Maybe Australia too.
    Reply
  • sizzling
    hotaru.hino said:
    Arguably most of that would be concentrated in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, China, and Japan. Maybe Australia too.
    From a quick Google that’s about 3/4 Billion people. Does put some perspective on actually how few people as a percentage were impacted by the shortage
    Reply
  • Jim90
    hotaru.hino said:
    Arguably most of that would be concentrated in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, China, and Japan. Maybe Australia too.

    You can exclude the UK - while I don't check every day, all the major retailers have had, effectively, zero stock since PS5 release. I suspect the 'big' volumes/drops are going to very limited regions, which clearly includes Japan and the US.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    Jim90 said:
    You can exclude the UK - while I don't check every day, all the major retailers have had, effectively, zero stock since PS5 release. I suspect the 'big' volumes/drops are going to very limited regions, which clearly includes Japan and the US.
    https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/07/ps5-comfortably-the-market-leader-in-uk-with-sales-up-25-on-2020-14887270/
    That's telling me otherwise. Though they were using an aggregate number.
    Reply
  • eichwana
    And what was the split between scalpers and legitimate customers?
    Reply
  • Jim90
    hotaru.hino said:
    https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/07/ps5-comfortably-the-market-leader-in-uk-with-sales-up-25-on-2020-14887270/
    That's telling me otherwise. Though they were using an aggregate number.

    If 99.99...% of the time results in a "no stock" return from any search (as has, effectively, been the case since launch) then Joe public will rightly assume zero stock availability. That's pretty much what I've been seeing here in the UK. No sane individual is going to want to refresh multiple pages ad infinitum, or wait at first dawn opening on every 'apparent' drop announcement, or, pay scalper prices - there are more important things in life.
    I'm sure we'd all be interested in a breakdown, by Sony, of exactly where in the world and in which stores these units are being sold. Note, however, that their marketing will never admit if(!!) they are primarily focussing on a limited number of destinations (US & Japan?), and as we all know, marketing can influence many media outlets i.e. remember that pinch of salt.
    Reply
  • Heat_Fan89
    I finally scored a PS5 by spamming the "add to cart" button on the Walmart app when they had their most recent drop.
    Reply
  • hotaru.hino
    Jim90 said:
    If 99.99...% of the time results in a "no stock" return from any search (as has, effectively, been the case since launch) then Joe public will rightly assume zero stock availability. That's pretty much what I've been seeing here in the UK. No sane individual is going to want to refresh multiple pages ad infinitum, or wait at first dawn opening on every 'apparent' drop announcement, or, pay scalper prices - there are more important things in life.
    And as far as I can tell from my friends who have a PS5, all they did was wait on Sony's website when they said they would have a drop, opened as many browsers as they could, and needed to only wait a few hours if not immediately in one case before they were picked.

    This is a hot ticket item still. If you're not willing to go a little beyond the extra mile in obtaining one, someone else will.

    Jim90 said:
    I'm sure we'd all be interested in a breakdown, by Sony, of exactly where in the world and in which stores these units are being sold. Note, however, that their marketing will never admit if(!!) they are primarily focussing on a limited number of destinations (US & Japan?), and as we all know, marketing can influence many media outlets i.e. remember that pinch of salt.
    And honestly, I'd expect this. Japan is their home territory and the US has a considerably larger population than the UK.
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    Only just sold 10 million when it sold 4.5 million in 2020 (in just under 7 weeks),
    Then 5.5 in just under 7 months that looks to me they have been very supply constrained.
    Reply