Sony is expecting to sell at least three million PlayStation 4 gaming consoles by the end of the year and five million by next March according to president and chief executive officer of Sony's U.S. computer entertainment division Jack Tretton.
During a recent interview, the executive pointed out that Sony is running a marathon, not a race, in terms of next generation console sales. Getting out to a nice start is a good thing to do which is exactly what will happen later this week when Sony drops the PS4 a week ahead of Microsoft's Xbox One. The PS4 will launch in the US on November 15 followed by Europe two weeks later on November 29. By the end of the year, it'll be available for purchase in 32 countries. That is, if stock holds up.
Tretton seems confident that Sony will not run into any supply issues this holiday season like those that crippled sales of its predecessor back in 2006. He said the only hurdle left that is not a non-issue until it's over is launching the console, having people engage with the network and having it all go smoothly. Whether or not Sony will be prepared to handle the massive influx of new users on its network this holiday season, however, remains to be seen.
The three million mark falls in line with analyst Colin Sebastian's worldwide PS4 sales forecast released last month. What's more, Sony's game operations chief Andrew House also predicted five million consoles sold by the end of March 2014.