The global stock shortages have done little to stall the PlayStation 5, as the system has already sold over four million units and shows no sign of slowing down in 2021. This milestone comes despite COVID-19 production issues and the fact PS5 and Xbox Series X/S launches were ruined by scalpers, with reports claiming that scalper groups made over $60 million from the systems.
The demand for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S going into the 2020 holiday season was incredible, and both systems quickly sold out everywhere. Of course, PS5 came out on top, as it sold more during launch month than Nintendo Switch did in March 2017. Now that the holiday season is over, the mad rush for new systems will tentatively die down, so (hopefully) it will be easier to buy consoles at retail price this year.
The PS5 sold 3.4 million units in its first month, and its sales figures just keep rising. According to VGChartz, the PS5 has now sold almost 4.2 million units since launch. By comparison, the Switch only sold almost 2.5 million units and the Xbox Series X/S only sold 2,24 million units during the same period (respective to each console's own launch window). This is even more impressive when consideromg that the PS5's only launch exclusives were a short, pack-in game and a remake of a PS3 classic.
However, Sony is still a long way off hitting the PS4's lifetime sales numbers, or even the Switch's current figures. That fact doesn't make this milestone any less impressive, especially considering the circumstances under which the PS5 was launched. The low stock of the console can be primarily attributed to the global pandemic, which has prevented both Microsoft and Sony from bringing more systems to the market at a sufficient rate to meet customer demand. Player need for both systems is still sky high, and it may be until April of this year that supply will finally catch up.
In early November, it seemed as though Microsoft and Sony were losing reasons for fans to buy their new systems at launch. Halo Infinite and The Medium were delayed, which meant that the Xbox Series X/S had no launch exclusives. Sony took some of the biggest PS5 launch exclusives and made them cross-gen, leaving only Astro's Playroom and Demon's Souls as proper exclusives. It nonetheless turned out that these decisions did little to diminish the enthusiasm for both systems, as it's still all but impossible to find a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S for a reasonable price. The PS5's sales figures are extremely impressive, and Sony's no doubt excited to see how high the ceiling goes once it manages to match player demand and get its new console into more households globally.
Source: VGChartz