Sony Expects PS5 Sales to Begin Outpacing PS4 by End of 2023

Sony expects PlayStation 5 sales to begin outpacing the PS4 by the end of 2023 as it gets back on track following component shortages that plagued hardware production last year.

Shared in a business presentation, Sony compared the PS5’s sales with the PS4’s at this stage in its life cycle and said it expects the PS5 to catch up with the PS4 by August 2023 and begin to exceed its sales by December.

The PS5 outsold its predecessor in its first year on the market but sales declined due to the component shortage that was only declared over in January 2023. Sony has since ramped up the number of PS5 consoles it’s shipping considerably, more than doubling 2022’s numbers in most months this year so far to meet what it’s calling “unprecedented demand”.

The presentation also revealed that the PS5 is projected to begin outpacing the PS4 in all of Sony’s key metrics by February 2024. These include console user spend, full game unit sales, gameplay hours, monthly active users, and monthly active consoles.

It joins the PlayStation VR2 as well performing Sony hardware, as the company revealed that it’s also outpacing its predecessor having sold close to 600,000 units in its first six weeks on the market.

The PS5 has sold 38 million units as of April 2023 following its best year on the market, though Sony looks to break PlayStation records by selling more consoles than ever before this year.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.