PS5 Falls to 12th on All-Time Console Sales List, Behind Game Boy and Xbox 360

For years, the tech and gaming giant Sony has dominated console sales, with five of the ten top-selling consoles of all time being Sony devices. However, its latest-generation console, the PlayStation 5, is trailing the success of its predecessor, the PS4, ranking outside the top ten group.

According to data presented by Skinsluck.com, PlayStation 5 has slipped to 12th place on the all-time console sales list, behind the Game Boy and Xbox 360.

PS5`s Six-Year Sales are 23% Lower than PS4`s

Since its launch in 2020, the PlayStation 5, Sony`s ninth-generation console, has sold 77.2 million units worldwide. While this is a solid number by gaming industry standards, it`s far from the figures reported during the PS4 era.

A big reason for that is the global chip shortage during the pandemic, which slashed console supply, leaving millions of gamers unable to buy next-gen systems. Sony sold only 7.8 million PS5 units in its first fiscal year, well below demand, while Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S also faced months-long stock shortages worldwide. On top of that, Sony kept pricing high, instead of offering the mid-cycle discounts that once fueled PS4 sales, further slowing demand as gaming competition heated up. As a result, global PlayStation 5 sales remained far below the standard set by its predecessor, the PlayStation 4, with no signs of closing the gap.

According to Statista and VGChartz data, between 2013 and 2023, Sony shipped 117.9 million PlayStation 4 units, ranking as the fifth best-selling console of all time behind Game Boy, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2. More than 85% of its lifetime sales, or 100 million units, came in the first six years, between 2013 and 2019.

The PS5`s six-year sales figures are much lower than that. Since 2020, people worldwide have bought 77.2 million PlayStation 5 units, only two-thirds of PS4 sales in the same period. This shortfall becomes even more striking when compared to the best-selling ninth-generation console, Nintendo Switch.

Although its earlier 2017 launch and hybrid design give it a different trajectory, the Switch still sold more than twice as many units as the PS5, over 151 million, averaging 16.7 million sales per year. By contrast, launched three years after, the PlayStation 5 hit an average annual sale of 12.8 million units, or 23% fewer than the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Sold 862 Million of its Top-Selling Consoles, 25% more than Sony

PlayStation 5`s weaker-than-expected performance is just a part of a longer trend, leaving Sony trailing its biggest competitor, Nintendo, and losing its title as the undisputed king of the console space. According to Statista and VGChartz data, Sony has shipped 640 million PlayStation units. While impressive, that is still 25% less than its rival Nintendo, which shipped a whopping 862 million of its top-selling consoles. But Sony is still way ahead of Microsoft, which has shipped only 201 million consoles.