Sony shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles last year

In 2020, Sony shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5s worldwide, as revealed by information released along with Sony's latest earnings report. The number highlights Sony's present ability to mass-produce the console, which has been very difficult to buy since its launch in November.

Demand for the PlayStation 4 fell dramatically year-over-year, with 1.4 million units shipped in the October-December quarter, a 77 percent decrease from the last year. Sony managed to sell fewer PS4s in the holiday quarter than it did from July to September.

Overall, Sony's games business performed much better than a year ago, and analyst Daniel Ahmad noted that it was the best quarter in PlayStation history. Revenue has increased 40 percent to 883.2 billion yen ($ 8.4 billion), driven in part by PS5 sales. Operating profit increased 50 percent to 80.2 billion yen ($ 763.3 million) due to PlayStation Plus subscriptions, higher game sales, and better margins on PS4 hardware.

However, Sony notes that the expenses related to the launch of the PS5 offset some of its earnings and confirms that the PS5 hardware itself sells for less than it costs to make. The company shared a loss was incurred due to "strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set below manufacturing costs."

There isn't much to read about the PS5 sales figures until people who want to buy one can actually do so. But at the very least, the console's launch appears to be comparable in size to the PS4; the PS4 also shipped 4.5 million units in its launch quarter.

Microsoft did not release specific sales figures for Xbox Series X or Series S with its earnings report last week, but the company said that Xbox hardware revenue was up 86% year-on-year.