PlayStation home consoles never fail to sell impressive figures during their lifetimes, and a new report by DigiTimes suggests that Sony are expecting to hit new heights with the PS5. The report in question claims that as per anonymous sources of the console’s manufacturing supply chain in Taiwan, worldwide shipments of the PS5 are expected to hit a minimum of 120 million units within 5 years of the console’s launch later this year.
The source states that consoles’ life cycles may be cut down to 5 years as opposed to the 6-7 year-long life cycles the PS4 and Xbox One have seen, and that during that time, worldwide shipments will be somewhere in the 120 million – 170 million range. Reportedly, that’s twice as many as the figures that Microsoft is expecting for the Xbox Series X.
A minimum of 120 million units in worldwide shipments is an impressive figure even in isolation, but a comparison with the PS4 makes it even more so, with Sony’s current-gen console’s worldwide shipments standing at over 110 million as of March 2020, over 6 years on from the console’s launch.
Reports earlier this year suggested that Sony had doubled the PS5’s manufacturing supply line, and were targeting 10 million units made by December of this year.
The PS5 has reportedly entered full manufacturing, with an image of the console itself having leaked. The console is due out this Holiday season. A price is yet to be announced, but PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has suggested that the console’s retail price will ensure “getting the value equation right.”