PlayStation 5 passes 100 million sales as GTA VI prepares to give it another boost

[midian182]

In a nutshell: Sony just revealed that the PlayStation 5 has officially sold more than 100 million units since its launch almost exactly six years ago. The PS5 is now just a few million units behind the seventh-place Wii and sixth-place PlayStation on the list of best-selling consoles ever, but it will likely soon outsell those machines as GTA VI's upcoming release boosts sales.

Sony wrote on its website that its latest console generation has sold over 100 million units as of November 10, 2026. That means it's still around 17 million units shy of the PS4 and slightly behind the original PlayStation (102.4 million), but ahead of the PS3 (87.4 million) and the PSP (76.4 million). Nothing comes close to the best-selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2, which sold more than 160 million units.

The figures reveal that Sony has sold another 2.1 million PS5 consoles since its previous financial quarter ended on September 30.

Reaching 100 million sales in six years is impressive considering the PS5 launched during the Covid pandemic in November 2020, when buying one was a near impossibility without paying scalpers a fortune. It took just over two years after release – January 2023 – before Sony announced that PS5 shortages were effectively over and the consoles should be much easier to find at retailers globally.

The PS5 was also the subject of some substantial price hikes this year as the memory crisis pushed up costs of numerous devices. The console became between $100 and $150 more expensive, with the PS5 Pro reaching $899.

But the PlayStation 5 has seen an uptick in sales recently that's being driven by one big factor: GTA VI. One of the most anticipated games of all time won't be on the PC when it arrives on November 19. Its console-only launch has led to many people buying a PS5 for this one reason alone. The game's also on Xbox Series X/S, but Sony's machine is a lot more popular.

Elsewhere in Sony's report, the company writes that cumulative worldwide software unit sales for the PS5 and PS4 combined have passed 1.795 billion. This includes physical and download-only titles, PS VR games, and software bundled with PS4 and PS5 consoles. There are also 127 million PlayStation monthly active users.

We still don't know when the PlayStation 5's successor will arrive. A previous report revealed that Sony itself still hasn't decided when the PlayStation 6 will launch. Some analysts had predicted a 2027 release, but the memory crisis could push its arrival further back.

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PlayStation 5 passes 100 million sales as GTA VI prepares to give it another boost

 

[Mouseface]

I will play it on PC. Ridiculous to have platform exclusivity or console exclusivity in 2026. Especially for a company with the resources of Rockstar, they could easily launch it on PC but they are the baddies.

 

[Jarenien]

I will play it on PC. Ridiculous to have platform exclusivity or console exclusivity in 2026. Especially for a company with the resources of Rockstar, they could easily launch it on PC but they are the baddies.

I will play it on PS5P, PC, PS6, PS6P and probably PS7 when it releases on that as well. If this game has even remotely the longevity of GTAV, it will be a monster for decades to come.

 

[Axeia]

If I was running the show at Sony I'd swap to focusing on mobile tbh.

Main problem for consumers: Need to afford a smartphone + PS = too much money to spend on tech.

Make a phone powerful enough to run base ps5 games = mobile gaming works and you can just dock it for a normal experience.
Don't bother with the playstore and their massive cut, set up your own. Let phone manufacturers buy a "PS5 certified" badge to display on their own stuff as long as they meet certain hardware/performance criteria (include prolonged loads running at a certain performance level obviously).
Get Samsung onboard as a launch partner for their next Galaxy S-whatever to build clout.

Main problem with that plan would be Apple, despite getting sued over it there's still no way to get software on their platform without raising the price of the software to offset their massive cut.
And getting loyal Apple fans off their iPhones... yeah, not happening.

 

[Megalomaniac]

I bought Xbox One series X (or whatever they call it ) for like $499 before going to Vietnam on summer vacation because they claimed they were raising the price $100.

If GTA 6 were available for my 5090 desktop, that box would never get opened.

I think the PC version is going to be so much better than the console version that it's gonna be like two different games.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

If I was running the show at Sony I'd swap to focusing on mobile tbh.

Main problem for consumers: Need to afford a smartphone + PS = too much money to spend on tech.

Make a phone powerful enough to run base ps5 games = mobile gaming works and you can just dock it for a normal experience.
Don't bother with the playstore and their massive cut, set up your own. Let phone manufacturers buy a "PS5 certified" badge to display on their own stuff as long as they meet certain hardware/performance criteria (include prolonged loads running at a certain performance level obviously).
Get Samsung onboard as a launch partner for their next Galaxy S-whatever to build clout.

Main problem with that plan would be Apple, despite getting sued over it there's still no way to get software on their platform without raising the price of the software to offset their massive cut.
And getting loyal Apple fans off their iPhones... yeah, not happening.

Mobile buyers are not the same market. May as well say Ford needs to stop making cars and focus on ebikes.

 

[The Talking Tech]

It's pretty sad that the PS5 needed a GTA 6 boost to match the PS4...a system that hasn't been manufactured since 2021.

What a disappointment of a system.

 

[Axeia]

Mobile buyers are not the same market. May as well say Ford needs to stop making cars and focus on ebikes.

Point is you only get to spend your money once and Sony wants to make money off selling games (consoles typically sold at low margins - not money makers themselves).

How many people interested in playing PS5 games on mobile already own a smartphone capable of PS5 level of graphics? Probably millions, and as the years go on that will only grow, especially when they keep it in mind and can buy a 'certified to work' one next time they're upgrading.
Big market and it only comes at the cost of selling PS5s. Which:
- Don't have much a profit margin to begin with
- Reached a point in their lifecycle where they're not flying off the shelves
- - Even less so because the costs are higher than ever.

Release a Sony branded phone holder/controller combo and a holder that works with the current controllers with a fat premium on it and you're raking in the money.

Funnily enough I don't think it would cost 400 million to do all of it either, which would make it cheaper than Concord game flop they bet so hard on, returns would definitely be a lot higher.

 

[dangh]

Good. gta5 pushed sales of ps3/4, same will be with gta6 on ps5. I don't like this game so I wont be touching it anyway, but I'm happy for people enjoying it as surely this will be a well polished title. And ps5 pro is sure a good console to handle it. I wonder if PC port delay is just a paid exclusivity or publisher think it will do them more money. or, if everyone was working on polishing it and there were no resources spare for a port.