PS4 had its lowest Christmas sales period since 2013

PlayStation 4 sales were down by 25 percent year-on-year over the Christmas period, Sony revealed in its Q3 earnings announcement on Tuesday.

The console shipped some 6.1 million units in the final quarter of 2019, which is down from 8.1 million units compared to the previous year.

PlayStation 4 had shipped 108.9 million units as of December 31, 2019, with more than 106 million units sold through to consumers.

The numbers represent the console’s lowest Christmas sales period since its launch in 2013, which is not surprising considering PlayStation 5 is already confirmed for launch at the end of this calendar year.

Overall, Sony’s Games and Network Services segment reported revenue of 632 billion, down 20% YoY, which it credited to lower hardware and third-party software sales.

PlayStation 5 is set to launch during the 2020 holiday season.

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan previously claimed the platform holder’s ambition is to transition players from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 “at a scale and pace that we’ve never delivered on before.”

He told Business Insider in January: “At the time of the migration from PS4 to PS5, there will still be a huge number of PS4 users, which is very important and we have obligations to them.

“We have to come up with new appeals. This year will be a more difficult and special year than the launch of previous game consoles.”

The PS5 logo was officially unveiled at a CES 2020 and despite its similar appearance, has already broken Instagram like records for a games brand image.