Sony's Playstation 4 is now the second best selling gaming console of all time. According to an end of the quarter earnings call from Sony, the PS4 recently surpassed the original Playstation in total sales, taking the number two slot on the list of best selling consoles.
In the document, Sony claims that it sold 2.8 million PS4s this quarter, from June 1 until September 30. This follows the landmark the company hit last quarter when it announced it had officially sold 100 million Playstation 4 units. This puts the total PS4 sales number at just around 102.8 million, which was enough to edge out the PS1 by a few hundred thousand. The Playstation 2 is still Sony's best selling console and by far the best selling home console of all time with over 155 million units sold.
It's worth noting that this measure of "best selling console" only includes home consoles and is not counting handhelds. Taking portable game consoles into consideration, the PS4 is now the fourth best selling system of all time and the original Playstation is the fifth. The Game Boy/Game Boy Color comes in third with 118.69 million units sold and the Nintendo DS is in second with 154.02 million units sold, nearly as many units as the PS2.
It is not surprising the PS4 has sold so well at what now seems to be the end of its lifetime. The console was the leading platform this generation in both the United States and Japan and has a number of best selling exclusive games. This won't be the end of the PS4's life quite yet though. Sony consoles historically have quite long legs after they launch, at least the PS2 did, and Black Friday is coming up so it's likely Sony will sell a great deal more Playstation 4s in the current financial quarter.
For now, though, Sony's gaming profits are drying up. Sony's gaming revenue and profit dropped by 17 percent and 35 percent, respectively, over 2018. This did not affect the overall revenue and profits however, as Sony soared otherwise bringing in a record 279 billion yen ($2.56 billion) in profit this past quarter. It's safe to say that at this point many gamers who bought a PS4 are waiting for the PS5 to come out next year and are not upgrading to the PS4 Pro console.
Source: Sony