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The story
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on the 11th that worldwide cumulative sales of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) have surpassed 100 million units. The milestone was revealed on the “Business Progress” page of the official website, reached five years after launch. Reactions on 5ch were split: some said rising semiconductor prices have actually made the PS5 look like an even better deal, others pointed to weak sales in Japan, and still others questioned whether the announced figure is “sell-in” (units shipped to retailers) rather than “sell-through” (units actually sold to consumers).
PS5 cumulative sales top 100 million! Is a generational handover getting closer?
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced on November 11 that worldwide cumulative sales of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) have surpassed 100 million units.
This was revealed on SIE’s official “Business Progress” page.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The Japan-only model has kept the same price this whole time.
You couldn't build an equivalent gaming PC for even 100,000 yen (~$650).
There are people out there using their PS5 as a PC now…
The curse of Sony snubbing Japan back in the PS4 era lives on.
Nah, the general public moved on starting from the PS2 era
— now it's just a niche crowd of enthusiasts.
Ah, that makes sense.
Still zero million-sellers in Japan.
what are people even playing on it?
Probably less about games and more about using them for AI processing
Back in the day people used to cluster tons of PS3s together for mining or to use as a makeshift supercomputer.
Look at reality — Sony's entertainment division just posted record-high profits.
Apparently in terms of operating profit, it only earns about half of what the music division brings in.
I wonder what fraction of Nintendo's that actually is…
> Note that this figure is "sell-in" — units the manufacturer shipped to retailers — not "sell-through," which is what retailers actually sold to consumers.
Hmm…
Game consoles have always reported cumulative shipment numbers — nothing new there. What's there to question?
Sony doesn't have full visibility into how many units retailers actually sold or their inventory situation.
And there's no company out there tallying up estimated worldwide sales either.
So unless they're just dumping stock on retailers and eating the returns, sell-in is the only number there is.
Didn't Honda and Sony scrap their EV project?
Amazing! If I win 700 million yen in the lottery, I'm definitely buying a PS5!
…though the lottery site's been down forever lol
Why would you need to win 700 million yen just to buy a PS5?
I don't know how many you're planning to buy, but if it's that many,
couldn't you just afford them with the money you'd spend on lottery tickets?
Well, the stock price is doing great.
The Switch 2 isn't selling either.
Weekly sales have dropped especially since the price hike.
In the end, it all comes down to price.
In Sony Group's most recent financial results (fiscal 2025, etc.), the operating profit for the Game & Network Services segment overall is roughly on par with the Music segment — if anything, Games is slightly ahead.
Only counting units shipped to stores is classic Sony —
they've been doing that since the PS3 days.
And honestly even back then they were just pushing hardware while most of the software was multiplatform and didn't sell.
Don't even need a PlayStation anymore lol
Globally though, the Switch 2 is seen as the trash one.
Isn't that just a Japan thing?
There aren't even games made for the Japanese market anymore anyway.
Did it really sell 100 million units?
Say that again after you check gaming PC prices these days.
I'd like to ask that of the people getting all excited when it's only selling overseas.
It flopped domestically and lost exclusive third-party titles to other platforms — what exactly is there to celebrate lol
Not everything needs to be made realistic (´・ω・｀)
Even the realism hasn't really changed in about 5 years.
AAA titles play it so safe there's no originality left anymore.
They don't even set up a dev environment on it.
I've only ever used a gaming PC for work.
I'd never buy a 500,000+ yen (~$3,300+) PC for personal use.
If it's a hobby, sure, but what's the point of setting up a dev environment when it's not even for work (´・ω・｀)
These days it'd probably be for AI stuff, but whether that counts as "putting it to good use" is questionable (´・ω・｀)
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The 100-million-unit figure is Sony’s cumulative “sell-in” total — units shipped from the manufacturer to retailers — not “sell-through,” the number actually bought by consumers. Since there’s no global body that tallies real-world console sales, it’s standard industry practice for manufacturers to report sell-in as their official figures, so as commenters in the thread pointed out, this isn’t really a new issue. The PS5 got off to a slow start due to the semiconductor shortage and scalper markups right after launch, but unit sales picked up once prices settled down. At the same time, the console has had a noticeably weaker presence in Japan compared to previous PlayStation generations, with commenters also pointing to a decline in Japan-exclusive titles — fueling the “it never sold in Japan” narrative. It’s also worth noting, and easy to overlook, that in Sony Group’s financial results, operating profit for the Game & Network Services segment has grown to roughly match the Music segment — a sign that the business’s profit structure has been shifting well beyond just hardware unit growth.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “Sony: PlayStation 5 (PS5) Worldwide Cumulative Sales Surpass 100 Million Units.”
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