A little more than 13 months after Sony began selling its Playstation 4, interest in the console is still strong.
Sony announced today at CES that it sold 18.5 million PS4 consoles to consumers worldwide after launching in November 2013. Sony last announced that it sold 13.5 million PS4s by the end of October, so the company sold about 4.5 million consoles this holiday season.
“I’m liking those numbers,” Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said today at the company’s CES press conference. “This is a remarkable success.”
Sony had outpaced Microsoft for U.S. sales for most of 2014, until Microsoft sold 1.2 million Xbox One’s in November in the U.S. as the critical holiday shopping season began.
Microsoft last reported its worldwide Xbox One sales in November, when it noted 10 million consoles sold to retailers (not consumers). Since Nov. 2, Microsoft sold the Xbox One for $349, but raised the price again back to $399 last week. Sony has sold the PS4 at $399 since launch.
Sony today also announced a new game streaming subscription service for PlayStation owners. We’ll be at the Sony CES press conference later today, so check back for an update from that.
