A week ago, Microsoft announced its Xbox revenue declined by 7% year-on-year during its fiscal Q1 2020. Much of that decline was driven by declining sales of the Xbox One. Hardware sales dipped 34% compared to the previous year as the 8th console generation comes to an end. However, while Xbox One sales are falling, Sony’s are seemingly still doing for the PlayStation 4 (PS4).
Indeed, the company says it sold 2.8 million units during the second quarter of 2019. We already know the PlayStation 4 has vastly outsold the Xbox One over this generation, but the quarterly sales pushed Sony to a new milestone.
In total, the PS4 has now sold up to 102.8 million units. With this jump, the console has become the second best-selling games console ever, topping the 102.49 million sales of the original PlayStation. However, the device is certainly not going to surpass the 155 million units the PlayStation 2 sold.
Still, Sony has become the dominant console brand, with three of its devices in the top three best-selling models ever. Nintendo’s Wii remains a massive success but has moved down to fourth with 101.63 million units sold.
Declining Sales
While this is good news for Sony, the results also point to a wider trend we observed with Microsoft’s decline. Indeed, Sony’s gaming revenue fell 17% year-on-year and profits dipped 28%. Like with Microsoft, Sony is feeling the pinch at the end of the console generation.
Customers who wanted a PS4 already have one, and many who don’t are willing to wait until the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett launch next year.
All eyes will be on those two consoles as they will compete directly and are launching in the same frame. Microsoft has significantly lost this generation based on sales. It will be interesting to see if customers start the ninth generation with a clean slate attitude or will be biased towards the brand they chose this generation.
