10 Million PS4 Sales -- What It Means for Sony

The PlayStation 4's initial success--a staggering 10 million units sold in nine months--puts Sony's game division in a good place for the future, European executive Jim Ryan explains in a new interview. At the same time, however, Ryan makes it clear that this console generation is far from over, and initial success is not necessarily a guarantee of prosperity down the road.

"Having momentum and having that initial success--and it is just initial, there's a long way to go yet--it puts us in good heart for the future," Ryan told GamesIndustry International in an interview from Gamescom.

Ryan also says in the interview that Sony's future-facing technology and services like PlayStation Now, Project Morpheus, and PlayStation TV all "require investment." But as a result of the PS4 selling so quickly right out of the gate, Ryan said decisions about investing in these areas are now easier to make.

"It's much easier to make decisions like that from a position of relative success, relative strength, rather than a world where PlayStation 4 was struggling, where our momentum wasn't great," Ryan said. "The money man would be thinking, 'hmmm, do we really want to put more into this?' Those conversations, which are very important for us and very important for the shape of the whole industry, they become easier. That can only be a good thing."

The PS4's initial success is quite different than the last generation, when the PlayStation 3--due in part to a high price tag--was slow to take off. Sony learned from these lessons, and the PS4 is better off as a result. Ryan says, "Yeah, we made so many mistakes last time round that I won't list them now. But we did list them, and we vowed to rectify them. By and large, I think we've done that."

NPD data released yesterday showed that the PS4 yet again was the best-selling console in the United States, outperforming the Xbox One.