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Sony Reveals It Has Sold 4.5 Million PS5 Consoles Since Launch

Source: SOPA Images / Getty

Despite a shaky launch that was understandably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sony was still able to ship out 4.5 million consoles.

Sony revealed the impressive number, which shines a spotlight on the companies current capacity to make the consoles that are still painstakingly difficult to purchase. The Japanese tech giant also announced that demand for its current-gen system, the PS4 dropped significantly, only moving 1.4 million consoles during the October-December quarter, which is a 77 percent drop from the previous year.

But, even with that drop-off, Sony’s gaming business still managed to have a better overall performance than the previous year. It was so good that analyst Daniel Ahmad said that it was PlayStation’s best quarter ever on Twitter. In his tweet, Ahmad noted that Sony’s success is all becuase of the PS5, of course, paired with strong software and network sales.

Per Daniel Ahmad:

“Sony’s Game & Network Services Segment reported Q3 (Oct-Dec) revenues of 883.2 billion yen ($8.43 billion), up 40% YoY. Operating Income for the quarter was 80.2 billion yen ($767 million), up 50% YoY. Increase due to PS5 launch + strong software and network sales.”

Sony did note that the PS5 hardware is being sold for far less than what it costs to make, so a loss due to “strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than the manufacturing costs” was incurred, the company stated.

But, it’s a whole other story when it comes to discussion if those 4.5 million consoles have ended up in the homes of gamers at all. Since the PS5’s launch, scalpers have been having a field day scooping up consoles at a ridiculous rate when retail stores drop links to purchase one.

In January, one scalper boasted on Twitter that he managed to secure 2,000 pre-orders through U.K. retailer GAME. IGN broke down in a recent article that that 10-15% of all PS5s sold in the U.S. alone were resold and that scalpers made an estimated $43.2 million profit from those resold consoles.

So, while Sony is winning financially, gamers are not getting their hands on a PS5 console. Microsoft has not shared exact sales figures regarding the Xbox Series X or Series S during its earnings report released last week but did indicate that Xbox hardware revenue was up 86 percent year-on-year. Microsoft also just recently announced that gamers could expect console shortages until June.

Photo: SOPA Images / Getty

HHW Gaming: Sony Moved 4.5 Million PlayStation Consoles Last Year  was originally published on hiphopwired.com