Sony has revealed that they sold a good number of PlayStation 5 systems last year.
Sony has released their Q3 2020 financial report, revealing that they had sold over 4.5 million PlayStation 5's last year (via PlayStation LifeStyle). They also revealed that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales sold over 4.1 million copies in the same time. According to the report, Sony is expecting to sell 7.6 million PlayStation 5's during the fiscal year. They have acknowledged that they have not been able to keep up with demand, but pledged to do their best to ship as many consoles as possible. Sony stated that this demand is due to consumers who have to stay at home at the moment. They also stated that they have seen high levels of user engagement. In December 2020 alone, Sony saw a 30 percent increase in gameplay time compared to the same period last year.
"We had more game software titles at the launch of the PS5 that at any other previous PlayStation console launch in our history, and those titles have sold well," Sony stated. "Continuing with our strategy of enhancing user engagement, we intend to take steps to further enhance the appeal of our network services offerings."
While Sony may have sold a large number of PlayStation 5's, they lost money for every console sold (via GameSpot). The company stated that it incurred a loss for every console sold due to their "strategic" pricing of the system. Though Sony lost money on every PlayStation 5 sold, the company saw gains in revenue through software and services. These gains were enough to offset the losses that they took from every console.
Sony has seen a console lose them money when it first launched before. When the PlayStation 4 released, it also sold at a loss. After some time, however, Sony was able to start seeing profit in the machine.
