Sony’s earnings report for this past quarter, which began March 31, 2019 and ended June 30th, is in. The numbers are pretty impressive. Within the last handful of months, the PlayStation 4 console reached a staggering sales figure, crossing the much coveted 100 million units sold benchmark. It did so by moving 3.2 million units between the end of March and the end of June 2019.
The hardware, which launched in late 2013, now serves as the fastest-selling console to accumulate 100 million units in sales. As such, though only by a small margin, the PS4 is selling at a quicker pace than the Nintendo Wii. The Wii reached 100 million consoles sold in five years and nine months. Meanwhile, Sony’s current-gen hardware achieved the same feat in five years and seven months. Sure, it’s only a two-month difference on the timetable, but still seems worthy of note.
During its financial report for the last quarter, Sony also noted that digital sales are on a steady rise above that of physical games media. This is not too much of a surprise, considering how the tide’s been turning the last few years.
PlayStation Plus subscribers represents another number the company likely feels confident about. By June 30, 2018, the number of PS Plus members sat at approximately 33.9 million worldwide. As of June 30, 2019, the figure sits at 36.2 million. It may only be a slight increase, but it’s an increase nonetheless.
Given some of the service’s negative press in recent months, the year-on-year increase is rather interesting. Most notably, in early 2019, PS Plus stopped offering free downloads for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita titles. Many fans assumed this meant an increase in the number and quality of PlayStation 4 games would soon arrive. Arguably, this has yet to occur, as the last few months have been underwhelming in terms of overall games offered, barring a switch of PES 2019 for Detroit: Become Human in the July 2019 slate.
