Sony Interactive Entertainment (NASDAQ: SIE) reached a new high note this year. The company has sold 50 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide, according to the 2016 PS 4 Report Card.
On Thanksgiving, the company enjoyed its best Black Friday week sales in the history of PlayStation.
Bundles of the gaming console where going off for around $250 in various retailers, packing games like Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Remastered.
The numbers include sales for the 2016’s the PlayStation 4 Pro, a high-end system that supports top-end graphics, and the PlayStation 4 Slim, smaller, lighter, and more power-efficient version of the popular console.
The PlayStation 4 is this generation’s sales leader
The dominance of Sony’s coveted machine increased with the firmware update 4.0, and upgrade that includes HDR support for all PS4 titles, redesigned menus, and improved data transfer, as well as support for Twitch, YouTube, and Dailymotion broadcasts.
Then, the PS4 Pro launched on November 10 with 1TB hard drive, double GPU power, and updated AMD Polaris graphical architecture. It is still the only console capable of rendering games in 4K resolutions.
Even with its many shortcomings, the Pro is an optional $400 upgrade that offers much more than Microsoft’s current lineup.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has not confirmed the Xbox One’s lifetime sales figures, but media reports are around 20 and 25 million worldwide.
The PS4 owns its success to its game roster
PS4 software sales look good, with more than 396.6 million games sold in retail stores globally and digital downloads on the PlayStation Store.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has acquired a group of accomplished game developers under the SIE Worldwide Studios subsidiary.
SIE Worldwide groups 25 studios including Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, The last of Us), Polyphony Digital (Gran Turismo series), or Santa Monica Studio (God of War franchise)
Exclusive PS4 games like The Last of Us Remastered, Infamous: Second Sons, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End hold up as three of the bestselling exclusive titles of all time.
Notably, The Last of Us is considered as one of the best games of all times, and the trailer for the highly anticipated part 2 of the survival title is out.
The PS4 portfolio will continue to grow with highly anticipated titles like Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, or Horizon Zero Dawn.
PlayStation list of services
More so, PlayStation 4 is not just a console. It packs a list of several services under the PlayStation Network services (PSN) that even a non-gamers can enjoy.
- PlayStation Plus is a paid PSN subscription that gives access to premium features, beta trials, store discounts and automatic system and game updates.
- PlayStation Store: users of the PS3, PS4, and PS Vita can find a broad range of digital titles, DLCs, and demos on the store.
- PlayStation Music: the on-demand streaming music service powered by Spotify.
- PlayStation Video: the online film and television distribution service by Sony. It holds content by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal Pictures studios.
- PlayStation Vue: an OTT internet television service that combines live TV, on-demand video, and a cloud-based DVR to stream TV shows, movies, and sports. It requires an additional subscription.
- PlayStation Now: a digital service that allows users to purchase and play PS3 games on the PS4 via a cloud-based streaming service.
Source: Gamespot
