Global cumulative sales of PlayStation 4 hit 4.2 million units

Sony Corp. said on Wednesday that global cumulative shipments of its latest PlayStation 4 video game consoles have reached 4.2 million as of December 28, 2013. With sales of the PS4, the company has already beaten sales of PlayStation 3 during the launch window and will likely exceed its initial shipments target for the ongoing financial year.

Sony’s PS4 system is now available in 53 countries and territories globally. Broad availability of the game console and its competitive price probably had a significant influence on its initial success. 4.2 million units sold through to end-users in a little more than one month is clearly an impressive number. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that the PlayStation 4 has yet to hit its domestic Japanese market in late February, 2014.

With over four million PlayStation 4 consoles sold so far, Sony has already beaten sales of the PlayStation 3 in its first fiscal year (ended in late March, 2007) which barely hit 3.5 million units milestone. Moreover, provided that Sony’s manufacturing partners produce sufficient amount of hardware, the company will most likely beat its own PS4 sales target of five million devices for the fiscal year.

PS4 software sales also stayed strong through the holiday season with more than 9.7 million copies sold in retail stores worldwide and through digital downloads on PlayStation Store. A few of the top selling games included Call of Duty: Ghosts from Activision, Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag from Ubisoft, Battlefield 4 and FIFA 14 from Electronic Arts, and Killzone Shadow Fall from Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS).

KitGuru Says: Unquestionably, Sony has learnt its lessons from the PlayStation 3 and the new game console looks to be very competitive about its arch-rival Microsoft Xbox One. At present the console is mostly acquired by core gamers who are familiar with the advantages the system has. Only time will tell how non-core gamers will like the PS4 console and how competitive it will be against new gaming devices.

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