By looking at PlayStation statistics both in terms of sales and trivia, we realize that Sony’s franchise is perhaps the most influential one in the history of home game consoles.
Ever since its launch in Japan in 1994, PlayStation has been a highly sought-after console.
Today, people can’t get enough of GTA 5, Call of Duty, and Cyberpunk 2077 on their PS4 and/or PS5 consoles. Read on to discover the most important stats and facts for 2022!
Top 10 PlayStation Statistics
- The Air Force made a supercomputer using 1,760 PlayStation 3 consoles.
- PS2 facts reveal this is the best-selling console with 155 million units sold.
- The original PlayStation outsold Sega Saturn by three to one.
- More than a billion PS4 games have been sold since 2013.
- Sony sold over 80 million PS3 consoles from 2006 to 2013.
- PS4 facts reveal only 28 games were available when PS4 was launched.
- PS5 boasts two cores at 3.5GHz and 16GB of GDDR6.
- The average lifespan of a PS4 console is ten years.
- Over 3,000 games have been made for PlayStation 1.
- PlayStation’s global console market share is 59.45%.
PlayStation Facts and History
Sony Computer Entertainment started a revolution in home video game consoles in the 1990s. From PlayStation 1 to PS5, which was launched just last year, the console had a rich history.
1. One of the most interesting PlayStation 1 facts is that there were 3,000 games made just for this one console.
(TheFactSite)
The total number of games made for PlayStation 1 is truly impressive. The final game released was Strider Hiryu (only in Japan), while FIFA 2005 was the last game on the US market, released in 2004.
2. Among historic PS3 facts is that the US Air Force made a supercomputer using 1,760 consoles.
(Liberty Voice)
The supercomputer was named “Condor Cluster,” and it cost $2 million to build, which was still up to 20 times cheaper than if they had built it the conventional way.
3. You can see your PlayStation stats for 2020 if you logged in more than ten hours of playtime.
(Engadget)
If you are interested in finding out the total PlayStation stats hours played in 2020, then you have to have logged in more than ten game hours on PS4 and/or PS5 during that year.
The other prerequisites are an active PSN account and that you’re 18 or older.
4. Facts about PlayStation 4 reveal that when the console was launched in 2013, only 28 games were available.
(DexDotExe)
One of the curiosities about PlayStation 4 is the fact that there were only 28 games on the day the console was launched on November 15th, 2013.
What’s more surprising, all of the games were remastered versions of PS3 games with improved graphics.
5. PlayStation facts for the original console remind us that PS1 sold three times as well as its biggest rival, Sega Saturn.
(SuperJump)
When Sony launched PlayStation 1 in Japan in December 1994, the console had one big marketing advantage: the price.
The retail price of PS1 in the United States was $100 lower than Saturn’s, which was the PlayStation’s biggest rival at the time, costing a whopping $399.
PlayStation Stats on Sales
When it comes to sales figures, Sony dominates the market. Not only is PS2 the best-selling console of all time, but PS5 has sold more units than the latest Xbox so far.
6. According to recent PS4 stats, more than a billion PS4 games have been sold since 2013.
(Polygon)
In January 2020, Sony announced that they have sold over a billion PlayStation 4 games (1.181 billion, to be precise).
Since the console’s launch at the end of 2013, sales stats have been favorable, even when we exclude add-ons and downloadable content.
7. The best-selling console of all time is the PS2, with 155 million units sold.
(DigitalTrends)
One of the facts about PlayStation 2 that you may have already heard is that it sold better than any of the other home consoles! From its launch in the year 2000, more than 155 million units were sold worldwide.
8. PlayStation 3 facts state that the company sold over 80 million consoles from 2006 to 2013.
(Fandom)
Even though these figures don’t even come close to sales recorded by the PS2, this was still enough to keep it competitive with its greatest rivals, Xbox 360 and Wii.
Interesting Facts About PS5
Sony’s newest generation of PlayStation, PS5, was launched at the end of 2020.
Even though total consumer spending in March 2020 declined $1,127.3 billion, the PS5 already surpassed the PS4 in sales, so the game console’s popularity isn’t expected to drop any time soon.
9. PlayStation statistics for 2021 show that Sony has sold 7.8 million PS5 consoles.
(TheVerge)
When observing sales statistics for 2021, we can conclude that this was a good year for PlayStation. Just from January to March 2021, 3.3 million PlayStation 5 consoles were sold worldwide.
10. PlayStation 5’s starting price of $500 leaves a thin profit margin.
(The Motley Fool)
One of the oddest facts about PlayStation 5 is that it has been selling at a loss so far. Despite millions of units sold, the price of $500 doesn’t leave much room for profit, at least for now.
This is part of Sony’s strategy to boost future software sales.
11. PS5 boasts two cores at 3.5GHz and 16GB of GDDR6.
(GamesRadar)
When it comes to other PS5’s specs, it boasts 825GB of SSD internal storage and a GPU working on 2.23GHz.
Likewise, while the PS4 controller facts and features sound impressive when we first heard about them, the new DualSense PS5 controllers are a great step forward, featuring haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
12. Sony aims to sell more than 14.8 million PS5s by the end of March 2022.
(Eurogamer)
Great sales figures so far have prompted Sony to set a high sales target for the future. The projected numbers would be higher than the number of PS4s shipped during the 2nd year of production.
13. PlayStation stats rank PS5 the fastest-selling console in US history.
(CNET)
Having listed sales figures above, it is safe to say that since its launch in November 2020, PlayStation 5 has been the fastest-selling hardware platform in the US ever!
The conclusion is made from total dollar sales during the first five months the PS5 has been on the market.
14. Sony plans to double PS5 shipments in the next 12 months.
(PCMag)
Despite chip shortages that are plaguing the IT industry, Sony plans to double PS5 shipments in the next 12 months.
This way, it hopes to satisfy the increased demand for the console, only further fueled by pandemic lockdowns.
Miscellaneous PlayStation Statistics
Finally, we turn our attention to various stats that might surprise many readers.
From the impressive percentage PlayStation has on the global market to arguably the best PS1 game ever, here are some miscellaneous facts about PlayStation.
15. 65% of PS4 and PS5 games were sold via digital download.
(Essentially Sports)
Over the past fiscal year, Sony has sold 338.9 million PS4 and PS5 games. Out of this figure, 65% (220 million copies) were sold via digital download, which is 12% more than last year.
This drop in the PlayStation rate also indicates a drop in the popularity of physical copies.
16. PlayStation Plus’s user base grew 22% from 2019 to 2020.
(Budapest Business Journal)
PlayStation Plus had 47.4 million monthly subscribers around the world in 2020. This was an increase of 22% from the previous year. As a reminder, PlayStation Plus was launched back in June 2010 as a PSN premium service.
17. When we break down PlayStation users by country, we see there are 120 million PSN player accounts in the United States.
(Reddit)
While 72% of Reddit users use it for entertainment, there’s no shortage of people on this platform who are there to help out other community members with information that cannot be found elsewhere.
When we look at the PSN statistics by country that were made available on this forum, we can see that 37.5% percent of the US population seem to have an active PSN account.
This is almost four times more than Great Britain, which has 28 million accounts.
18. PlayStation VR sales figures say that the company sells an average of 1.35 million units annually.
(RoadToVR)
Since its launch in October 2016, Sony has sold an average of 1.35 million units of PlayStation VR per year. At the end of 2019, total PlayStation VR sales amounted to some 5 million units.
(StatCounter)
When observing global statistics for PlayStation, we notice that it holds almost two-thirds of the market share.
The console statistics show that Xbox trails in 2nd place with a market share of 40.55%.
Finally, Nintendo is 3rd with a meager 0.01%.
20. The average lifespan of a PS4 console is 10 years.
(Reddit)
One of the more interesting PlayStation 4 facts is its projected lifespan. On average, a PS4 should last 10 years which corresponds to the period Sony will provide support.
If you were among the first to purchase a PlayStation 4, then you have two more years of customer support.
21. PlayStation Vue streaming service shut down in 2020.
(TechRadar)
As a streaming media, this platform wasn’t as successful as Sony had hoped for.
Even though users could stream everything from movies to live TV, and the monthly PlayStation Vue rates were starting from $44.99, the platform couldn’t compete with other similar services.
22. PlayStation Classic sales numbers say that 120,000 units were sold during the first week alone.
(GamesIndustry)
In 2018, Sony launched a retro console called PlayStation Classic. During the first week of sales, some 120,000 units were sold in Japan.
However, sales numbers put the retro console far behind SNES Classic, which sold 369,000 units just during the first four days!
23. Gran Turismo was PS1’s best-selling game with 10.85 million copies.
(EasyScienceForKids)
Gran Turismo’s success shouldn’t come as a surprise as it took five years to develop.
It was published in 1997, and after being amazingly received both by the critics and the gaming community, it inspired more than 10 sequels and spin-offs.
FAQ
What is better, Xbox or PS4?
The question of whether PS4 is better than Xbox is highly subjective. Some would advise you to keep the following parameters in mind when shopping: price, hardware and design, connectivity, RAM, and graphics.
However, since both consoles are excellent, it all boils down to your preference and budget.
How many players does PlayStation have?
Although it’s hard to give an exact figure, data from Steam shows that PlayStation has at least 102 million monthly active players, which is some 12 million more than Xbox Live.
What is the rarest PlayStation?
The rarest PlayStation console is PS 4 Pro Spider-Man Limited Edition. Released back in 2018, the console has been a hit among fans, resulting in a market price of up to $1,000.
How many PS4s have been sold?
Sony has sold over 100 million PS4 consoles in total until July 2019. If PlayStation 4 stats are anything to go by (3.2 million units sold quarterly on average), then the total sales figure for 2021 should be 138.4 million.
How many PSN accounts are there?
Sony’s digital entertainment service, PlayStation Network (PSN), had 103 million monthly active user accounts as of December 2019. These PlayStation figures correspond to 106 million units of PS4 sold worldwide.
Conclusion
Having studied these PlayStation statistics, it is safe to say that Sony’s home game console franchise will last for decades to come.
Apart from a rich history, PlayStation’s sales figures and predictions for 2021 guarantee a bright future for the brand. The already large fan base will only grow as the 21st century progresses.
Sources
- Budapest Business Insider
- CNET
- DexDotExe
- DigitalTrends
- EasyScienceForKids
- Engadget
- Essentially Sports
- Eurogamer
- Fandom
- GamesIndustry
- GamesRadar
- Liberty Voice
- PCMag
- Polygon
- RoadToVR
- Sony IE
- StatCounter
- SuperJump
- TechRadar
- TechRadar
- TheFactSite
- TheGamer
- The Motley Fool
- TheVerge
- TheVerge
- VG 24/7
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Stefan Pajovic
Stefan is a postdoctoral researcher in American and Irish literature, as well as a dedicated content writer. He is a polyglot wannabe who relishes the opportunity to travel. Stefan writes only about topics he can contribute to. Swimming, boxing, and shooting are his favourite hobbies.
