Target of seven million units by April 2021
Speaking in an interview with Korean outlet Naver, PlayStation President and CEO Jim Ryan has stated that Sony is confident that its upcoming next-gen platform, PlayStation 5, will have a more successful first fiscal year than that of current gaming platform, PlayStation 4.
Launching in November 2013, the PS4 console would go on to sell around seven million units by the end of its first fiscal year, April 2014. Ryan’s comments suggest that Sony is confident that it will exceed this number between the launch of PS5 in November 2020 and the end of its first fiscal year in April 2021. While that suggests a staggering amount of units of a very expensive piece of hardware, no doubt Ryan will have taken global pre-order estimates and Sony stock numbers into account before making the bold statement.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ryan also defended the controversial rise in video game prices, which will see some PS5 titles retail for around $70 in the U.S. and a comparatively higher £70 in the U.K. Ryan placed an emphasis on both “value” and the next-gen capabilities of PS5 games as a fair trade-off against the increased price-tag.
“It is difficult to talk about the overall game market or other game consoles, but I think the value is obvious in the case of the PS5,” said Ryan. “We’ll excite fans around the world with the best exclusive games on the market today and deliver a truly next-generation device experience that will captivate them.”
At £70 a pop, you’ll be captivating me when the sales hit.
PS5 launches November 12 in The U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. It will follow in all other territories one week later on November 19.
Sony expects PS5 to sell more than 7m units by April [GamesIndustry.biz / Naver]