Sony reveals 30 million PS4 sales since launch

By David Curry November 25, 2015

ps4 30 million sales connect — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sony has passed another sales milestone, today announcing 30 million PlayStation 4 sales worldwide since launch. That brings sales this year up to 9.5 million, meaning Sony will most likely surpass its 12-month sales average by the end of the year.

The PS4 has been the leader in the console war since the start, and has double the amount of sales compared to Microsoft’s Xbox One. The software giant confirmed it would stop revealing sales numbers for the Xbox One earlier this year, but according to VGChartz, Microsoft has sold 15.6 million units since launch.

Total sales this year are less than half of Sony’s 9.5 million for Microsoft, currently at 4.6 million. Both are doing better than Nintendo’s Wii U, which has sold 10.6 million since launch and a dismal 1.9 million units this year. Globally, Sony is seeing much more success in Japan and Europe than Microsoft. Even in North America, Sony surpasses Microsoft in console sales, leading to a resounding lead of 2:1 sales.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the hot new game for console, and VGChartz claims over 3.7 million PS4 copies have been sold on the opening week, compared to 2.2 million on Xbox One. Need for Speed (2015) is another better seller on the PS4, with 470,000 copies sold compared to 135,000 on Xbox One.

Sony still has an issue launching interesting exclusives, with no exclusive games reaching the top 10 in November. Microsoft on the other hand sold 1.7 million copies of Halo 5: Guardians in two weeks — reaching sixth in the charts on the second week. That is at least some comfort for Microsoft.

The next month and a half should be huge for Sony and Microsoft, as the holiday season starts to kick into gear. The two console manufacturers are launching Black Friday deals for video games, and we expect both will offer cheap bundles that include the console to beef sales figures before the end of year.

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Gaming

The best PS5 exclusives

Kratos sternly looks at Atreus in God of War: Ragnarok.

The PlayStation 5 has finally established a respectable list of console-exclusive titles between first- and third-party developers. These games are able to take full advantage of the PS5 hardware thanks to not needing to worry about developing for other platforms. If you want to play some of the most impressive games you can on your system, no matter what genre you like most, these exclusives are the ones to check out.

In this guide, we'll round up the very best exclusive games the system has to offer. The PS5's exclusive library will undoubtedly grow throughout its life cycle, and we will update this article accordingly as more games come out.

Gaming

PS5 slim vs. PS5: everything you need to know about the new PS5 model

The slimmer PS5 console laying on its side.

Sony consoles have always gotten multiple versions and editions ever since the original PlayStation 1. As technology becomes cheaper and more advanced, refreshed models that are both smaller and less expensive to produce typically come out a couple of years into a console's life cycle, and we have now hit that point for the PS5. The PS5 slim, as it is being referred to, is a smaller version of the launch models, and will eventually become the standard unit available to consumers once the stock of existing PS5s runs out. However, is this version worth getting if you're an existing owner, or is it only for new purchasers? There's also the question about which of the two versions to buy. To answer all these questions, let's compare the PS5 slim to the OG PS5.
Specs

Let's start with the most important part, which is whether or not there's more power under the hood of the PS5 slim compared to the launch models. No, the PS5 slim is not in any way more powerful than an existing PS5. This is not a PS5 Pro, which is currently just a rumor. Games will not look, run, or play any better or worse on either version. The only difference in terms of specs is that the slim versions have slightly more storage space at 1 TB compared to 825GB, which is just a small 175GB upgrade. There's nothing here that makes it worth buying a new system when you can expand the storage of your console yourself.
Size
Obviously, a slim model would mean that this new version would be smaller than the frankly comically large launch version. While that's true, it isn't a huge reduction in size. The PS5 Slim disc version weighs 3.2 kilograms (18% less that the original PS5) while the discless version weighs 2.6kg (24% less), and both are 30% smaller by volume.
Versions
Once again, you will have the option to choose between an all-digital and standard version of the PS5 Slim. However, unlike the original discless PS5, the new version will give you the option to add a disc drive later on if you purchase a separate detachable drive.
Price
The current PS5 models are priced at $400 and $500 for the digital and standard versions, respectively. While the PS5 slim standard version that includes the disc drive will remain at $500, the discless version will get a price increase to $450. This price increase had already been seen in other territories outside the U.S., but will now be introduced here once these new versions launch. It is also worth mentioning that the detachable disc drive you can get to upgrade your discless version will cost $80, meaning you would spend more to buy the digital version and add the drive than you would by simply buying the version with the drive already included.

Gaming

Sony’s cloud handheld, the PlayStation Portal, will only stream certain games

Astro's Playroom booting up on the PlayStation Portal.

Sony has unveiled the price for its upcoming cloud gaming handheld, as well as an official name for the device: PlayStation Portal. However, one significant caveat to its functionality might sour people's interest in the handheld: It only supports PS4 and PS5 native games that the owner purchased.
PlayStation VR2 games can't be streamed to PlayStation Portal, which does make sense. More bafflingly, though, is the fact that the PlayStation Blog post states that "games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming are not supported." That means you shouldn't pick up PlayStation Portal expecting to stream some PS3 and PS4 games available through PlayStation Plus Premium to the device. That's certainly an odd omission when it's currently PlayStation's most notable cloud gaming effort.
Although Microsoft is more closely associated with cloud gaming, Sony beat it to releasing a dedicated cloud gaming device. PlayStation Portal was first teased as Project Q during May's PlayStation showcase, but now, a PlayStation Blog post more clearly explains what we can actually expect from the handheld. Most importantly, we learned that PlayStation Portal will cost $200, which puts it underneath the cost of a Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, and other cloud gaming devices like the Logitech G Cloud Handheld.
As for what you're getting for that price tag, it's essentially a decent screen attached to two halves of a DualSense controller. The controllers on each side share all the functionality of the DualSense, including things like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. In-between is an 8-inch LCD screen that streams games over Wi-Fi at up to a 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. All in all, that's fairly solid for a cloud gaming handheld that is this cheap.
Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will have a 3.5mm audio jack, but also used the same blog post to unveil two new wireless audio options. There's the Pulse Elite wireless headset that features a retractable boom mic and a charging hanger and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds that offer similar audio quality in earbud form.
None of these products are available for preorder or have a specific release date just yet, but they are all expected to launch before the end of the year.