PS4 Sales Surpass 40 Million Units

PlayStation 4's sales have now surpassed the 40 million milestone, Sony has announced. The figure represents units sold to consumers globally, as opposed to shipped to retailers.

"We are truly grateful for the enormous support from our fans and partners across the globe, which helped us achieve this significant milestone in such a short span of time,” said PlayStation chief executive Andrew House.

"We will strive to deliver even more exciting gaming experiences to our users, further driving the momentum and accelerating the expansion of the PS4 platform and its business this fiscal year by offering an unparalleled lineup of games, bringing our virtual reality system, PlayStation VR, to market and providing ground-breaking features and network services."

In the 2015 holiday period, Sony sold 5.7 million units of the PS4, bringing its sales tally to 35.9 million units globally by January. This means that, in the five months following, Sony has sold more than five million more consoles.

In a financial report detailed on May 24, Sony forecasted it will 20 million PS4s in its current financial year, which ends on March 31. This would bring global lifetime sales of the PS4 to 60 million.

For comparison, the PlayStation 3 has sold more than 80 million units worldwide as of November 2013, which was seven years after its initial launch. The PS4 is in its third year on sale.

Analysts, meanwhile, have projected the PS4 will go on to sell more than 100 million units worldwide before its lifecycle is over.

In terms of game sales, Sony said "software sales also remain strong, with more than 270 million" titles sold through retail and digital downloads as of May 22.

Reports have indicated an upgraded PS4 might be in the works. This new PS4 is codenamed "Neo" and features upgraded CPU, GPU, and RAM.