Consoles
Sony didn’t expect to sell 10 million PS4 consoles so soon after launch
Back at Gamescom 2014, Sony announced that over 10 million PS4 units have already been sold even though the console had only been around for about nine months or so. This news came as a surprise not only to gamers and journalists, but also to the company itself. Needless to say, Sony is extremely happy and proud, but also rather concerned at the same time. President of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida seems a bit baffled by the whole thing and can’t seem to explain how it happened. Sure, he expected the PS4 t0 sell a lot of units, but 10 million in nine months is more than the company anticipated. Interestingly enough, Sony could have presumably sold even more if not for the fact that they were struggling to keep up with demands for a long time.
“The 10m sell through in the first nine months is well beyond what we had hoped for,” Yoshida said in a recent interview. “As you know, we have struggled to keep up with demand of PS4 for so many months. It was hard to find and purchase PS4. Now we are able to supply units so in every territory I believe you can find PS4. So we just managed to catch up with demand. It’s just beyond our imagination. We are so happy. But I for one am a bit nervous because we do not completely understand what’s happening. You need to understand why your products are selling well so you can plan for the future, right? It defied the conventional thinking. “
Sony says that a lot of the PS4 consoles were purchased by people who didn’t previously own a console at all. Yoshida thinks the strong sales can be attributed to the fact that new titles have been announced at major events like E3 and Gamescom, leading people to believe that a long term investment into a PS4 is definitely worthwhile as there will be plenty of game releases in the near future. However, Sony still needs to understand why people are buying so many consoles and who these people are in order to make plans for the future. In a way Yoshida is worried that if every core gamer buys a PS4 now, there will soon be no one left to purchase any more consoles, which is certainly not an ideal scenario because Sony wants to be relevant on the market for many years to come.
“As soon as we see a great sales number,” Yoshida says, “our instinct tells us we should be concerned about future sales, right? Are we exhausting all the core gamers? If we sell this number of units, there are no more consumers we can sell to. That’s a really terrifying prospect. So we want to understand who are these consumers who we do not necessarily consider core gamers, who are purchasing PS4 and why they are doing it and what they are doing with PS4, so we can create a bit more of a positive future, rather than saying, wow, we have sold to every single core gamer. So that’s what we are doing.”
PS4 sales in the UK climbed by a shocking 633 percent year-over-year in 2023, so apparently the old system isn’t dead yet. The previous year’s very limited supply of the system is likely a major factor in this figure, since the console’s lifespan was drastically reduced because of chip shortages caused by the pandemic. Still, it’s proof that PlayStation’s original platform has unmet demand.
With the very low prices of PS4 software (both in-store and online at the PS Store), this strategy makes a lot of sense. Plus, it’s future-proof, so there’s no harm in stocking up on PS4s while new-gen pricing is still high, since if you decide to switch to a PS5 in the future, you can transfer all of your purchases across. Not to mention that the majority of new releases still come out on the PS4, with several offering free PS5 upgrades.
While the percentage rise may seem huge, real PS4 sales will probably be much lower. It’s a sign that the gadget, which is now a decade old, isn’t completely dead yet, and we expect it to keep receiving maintenance for a while longer. Of course, this is great news for Sony, because the company would rather have PS4 players playing on its last-gen gadget than none at all, even if it would love to have them upgrade to PS5.
A PS5 firmware update on a cold winter morning is unmatched. The latest PS5 system software update is 23.02–08.40.00 from Sony. Does this one add useful features or just boost system performance?
Though closer to the latter, it’s more than Sony’s favorite patch note. It fixes security issues, improves messages and usability, and boosts system software performance. Official patch notes for this 1.185GB update:
- We updated system software security
- We improved system software stability and performance
- Some screens now have better messages and usability
That’s it. PS5 gets another win to recover from its midweek slump. Do you share our enthusiasm for this firmware update? Comment below. To spice things up, make your comment rhyme.
Belgian developer Larian Studios’ work on Baldur’s Gate 3’s Xbox Series S version will improve performance on all platforms, including PS5. The game’s fifth major patch, expected to launch this week, will include upgrades and new features. More details will be revealed later today.
Director of Publishing Michael Douse says PS5 performance improvements may be the “least exciting thing” in the title’s next update, so it sounds like a big one. Larian Studios employees are proud of “finally” implementing tweaks, fixes, and changes, Douse says. Later today, we’ll bring you all the Baldur’s Gate 3 update details.
Those who reached the RPG’s third act have reported technical issues during the narrative’s conclusion, especially in co-op, so today’s update should fix them. New features like a permadeath mode are expected, along with Xbox Series S optimization fixes. What else should be added to the game?
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