Sony Interactive Entertainment says PS5 shipments pass 100 million units

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that PlayStation 5 worldwide sell-in surpassed 100 million units as of November 10, 2026.

Sony uses the term sell-in to describe cumulative worldwide hardware unit sales, meaning consoles went to retailers and distributors rather than confirmed consumer purchases. The company’s reported hardware totals also count returned and refurbished consoles.

As of September 30, 2026, Sony’s shipment total reached 97.9 million PlayStation 5 consoles, about 2.1 million units short of 100 million. The November 10 announcement means Sony delivered no fewer than 2.1 million more units to retail and distribution channels after that cutoff.

Sony’s console went on sale November 12, 2020, in certain markets and November 19, 2020, worldwide, arriving during the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns. Component shortages made the system difficult to find, scalpers resold units on eBay at major markups, and retailers did not have steady supply for nearly two years after launch.

Reaching 100 million shipments took Sony’s current console almost six years, compared with roughly five years and seven months for the PS4. Yahoo Tech says the PlayStation 5 is around 5 million units behind the PlayStation 4 on a launch-aligned basis at this point in its lifecycle.

Sony places the PlayStation 5 fourth among its best-selling consoles, ahead of the PlayStation 3 and PSP and approaching the original PlayStation’s 102.4 million lifetime units. Official hardware records show the PlayStation 2 above 160 million units, the PlayStation 4 above 117 million units, and the original PlayStation above 102.4 million units. Those same records list the PlayStation 3 at more than 87.4 million units as of March 31, 2017, and the PSP at more than 76.4 million units as of March 31, 2012.

In the July-to-September 2026 quarter, Sony dispatched 2.6 million PS5 units, a drop from 4 million units in the same period a year earlier. The company shipped 20.8 million PS5 units in fiscal year 2023, its strongest annual performance, then 18.5 million in FY2024 and 16 million in FY2025. First-half fiscal year 2026 shipments totaled 4.2 million units, with 1.6 million in the April-June quarter and 2.6 million between July and September.

Tbreak reports that Sony told distribution partners that temporary supply constraints and high demand would limit retailer stock until next year. Sony reportedly cited “temporary market supply constraints and high demand.” The outlet also says Engadget links the quarterly PS5 shipment decline to RAM shortages and tariffs that made consoles expensive and hard to find, suggesting supply rather than demand is the likelier cause. Yahoo Tech attributes weak PlayStation 5 and broader console sales to price rises driven by the AI-fueled RAMpocalypse, saying this generation has seen consoles become more expensive rather than cheaper as they age.

Sony sold 88.2 million combined PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 software units in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, up 7.9 million units from the same period a year earlier. First-party titles made up 8.2 million of those sales, an increase of 1.9 million from the prior-year quarter. Combined shipments of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 software exceeded 1.795 billion units by September 30, 2026.

Digital downloads made up 78 percent of full-game software sales in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, compared with 72 percent in the prior year. Software sales totaled 708.5 billion yen, roughly 4.48 billion dollars, versus 629.3 billion yen a year earlier. Network services grew 19.5 percent to 218.3 billion yen. Sony’s gaming division raised revenue by nine percent and profit by 83 percent compared with the previous year.

PlayStation Network reached 127 million monthly active users as of September 30, 2026, up eight million from 119 million users a year earlier. Sony stopped publishing PlayStation Plus subscriber counts, leaving monthly active users as the closest measure of network reach.

Grand Theft Auto VI from Rockstar Games launches November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no PC release date announced. Preloads were already underway as of November 11, 2026. Yahoo Finance says the lack of a day-one PC release may lead PC-focused players to buy a console to play the game at launch.

Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac sold 2.4 million units by November 4, 2026, roughly 50 days after it launched. The game moved 1.9 million copies in its first three days. Some reports call Marvel’s Wolverine sales disappointing, although critics gave it Sony’s lowest PS5 review score and sales have not declined in line with reviews.

Tbreak says Sony has not clarified whether those 2.4 million sales cover digital and physical copies, even though a third of launch sales were discs despite plans to phase out physical media. Ghost of Yōtei reached 3.3 million units by Sony’s latest figures after launching on October 2, 2025.

Sony’s PS5 Slim models, offered with disc and digital-only options, have effectively taken over from the original launch model alongside the more powerful PS5 Pro. The company has not said how many units were standard PS5 consoles versus PS5 Slim or PS5 Pro models. The PS5 Pro lessened the frustration of picking between visual fidelity and performance, and Sony added QSSR upscaling to the PS5 and PSSR upscaling to the PS5 Pro.

Development of the next console is moving forward steadily, Sony Interactive Entertainment said, and it expects major progress in the next fiscal year, though it set no release date. Industry reports suggest the next generation of consoles could cost more than $1,000 at launch. Sony also raised its full-year PlayStation forecast after higher net sales and operating income in the second quarter.

Notebookcheck argues that PS5 sales are almost certain to collapse given too few exclusives, increasing prices and Sony’s shift away from physical media. The piece predicts orders will mostly decline from here, with just a short-lived bump when Intergalactic: The Last Prophet arrives. It also says the PS5 is unlikely to overtake the PlayStation 2 lifetime total or the Nintendo Switch based on the current path.

Microsoft released the Xbox Series X and S at the same time as the PlayStation 5, yet Microsoft does not disclose sales figures for its consoles. Yahoo Tech says the PlayStation 2 is the top-selling console ever, just ahead of the Nintendo Switch at 157.2 million units as of September 30, 2026. Sony also canceled Haven’s Fairgames, continuing what one report described as a costly pullback from live service games.