Sony’s handset business sucks, but at least the PS4 is selling like crazy

Sony’s handset division may burning through money, but the PlayStation 4 is still dominating, which is one of the only reasons that the company was able to (barely) make a profit last quarter. According to the most recent sales numbers, the PS4 is leading the current generation of consoles with 29.3 million sales since it launched two years ago, a number that puts it above the PS2 and well above the PS3, which sold 24.9 million and 16.6 million, respectively, within the same amount of time. 

The sales success of the PlayStation 4 shows no sign of slowing down. Today, Sony said it had sold another four million PS4s during the second quarter of its 2015 financial year, which ended on 30th September. All this before the recently-announced price-cut. The PS4 has now shifted a whopping 29.3m units since going on sale in November 2013. By comparison, the PS2 had sold 24.99m units after the same length of time on sale. The PS3 had sold 16.6m, and the Xbox 360 13.4m. (Microsoft doesn’t report Xbox One sales.) The Wii, though, is the clear home console leader. It had sold 34.55m during the same time on sale. Sony’s Game and Network Services division, of which PlayStation is a part, saw sales of 360.7bn yen (around £2bn) – up 16.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. Operating income was 23.9bn yen (around £130m), up by 13.1bn yen. Sony said this “significant increase” was primarily due to a boost in PS4 software sales. PS3 software sales, as you’d expect, are in decline.