While Sony was busy putting on an E3 2017 press conference that included such bombshells as the announcement of a Shadow of the Colossus remake, the company was also able to offer up another impressive milestone in terms of PS4 units sold. According to Sony, the PS4 has now reached a massive 60.4 million units sold to customers.

The news comes courtesy of the company, which revealed the impressive sales figure for overall PS4 units sold. The 60.4 million figure is certainly a strong one, and marries up with Sony's excellent gaming profits for the last financial year, where a figure of 60 million units shipped was given.

This was not the only figure that Sony gave regarding sales, either. The company also discussed software sales, and as of June 11, 2017, 487.8 million software sales have been completed, with Sony stating that the sales have been "led by critically acclaimed titles such as Horizon: Zero Dawn." It's worth noting that this figure includes both the retail copies of games and those sold as digital downloads through the PlayStation Store.

Sony on PS4 backwards compatibility

Sony will no doubt be feeling confident based on these sales figures. After all, the company had previously set a target of 60 million PS4 units sold to customers by the end of 2017, meaning that Sony has managed to make it to this milestone with almost half a year to spare. All in all, it shows the strength that the PS4 has in the marketplace, and Sony will be aiming to maintain that stranglehold in the future.

Part of the continued success of the PS4 as a commercial powerhouse may well come down to the release of the updated PS4 Pro. Although the figures given by Sony do not provide a breakdown of the different kinds of PS4, previous reports have suggested that the PS4 Pro was faring well out in the wild, with games retailer GameStop stating that PS4 Pro sales were off to a good start when the console initially released.

Of course, the end of 2017 may well prove to be a more difficult hunting ground for the PS4 in comparison to previous years. Microsoft is gearing up the launch of the Xbox One X, with the heavy duty revamp of the Xbox One set for release on November 7 with a price tag of $499. The console could be fierce competition for the PS4 and PS4 Pro, so let's see how Sony is able to fare against this new rival on the market.