What just happened? The PlayStation 5 has been riding high ever since turning in its best quarterly performance ever last holiday season, and the champagne is flowing once again today as Sony celebrates a significant milestone in the console's history. Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan said they have now sold more than 40 million PlayStation 5 consoles to gamers to date.
The PlayStation 5 was announced as the successor to the PS4 in April 2019 but would not launch until more than a year later in November 2020. By then, the world was in a vastly different place thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. It certainly wasn't the ideal environment to launch a flagship game console in but it was the reality for both Sony and Microsoft, who launched its Xbox Series platform in the same month.
Both companies faced inventory shortages that typically accompany new console launches, but the situation was magnified and extended due to supply chain hiccups caused by the pandemic. Worse yet, scalpers armed with automated shopping bots were scooping up any and all available systems and reselling them for huge profits.
Fortunately, that whole messy situation is in the rearview and new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are readily available at select retailers both locally and online.
Ryan said there are now more than 2,500 PlayStation 5 games available, and that the last two months alone have delivered some great titles including Street Fighter 6, Diablo IV, and Final Fantasy XVI, among others. A quick check of the PlayStation store reveals the number may be closer to 2,200 once you exclude duplicates for different editions of the game game.
In related news, one rumor making the rounds suggests Sony is considering expanding a limited-time summer promotion to other regions including the US. If true, shoppers may soon be able to scoop up a new PS5 at a $50 discount. That would put the base console at $449, leaving a little extra to go towards a game or a second DualSense controller.
Image credit: Charles Sims, Kamil S