Sony expects PlayStation 5 sales to top 7 million by March 2021

Sony expects PlayStation 5 sales to clear seven million units by the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2021.

That’s according to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, who told Korean site Naver the company is forecasting PS5 will outperform PS4 at launch.

“We think the PS5 will sell more in its first fiscal year than it sold in the first fiscal year at the time of PS4 launch,” he said (via Google Translate).

PS4 launched in November 2013 in North America, Europe, South America and Australia, and in February 2014 in Japan. It had sold seven million units globally by April 6, 2014, according to the platform holder.

PS5 will launch globally in November 2020 priced at $500/€500/£450 for the standard edition and $400/€400/£360 for the Digital Edition, with the only difference between them being the former’s inclusion of a disc drive.

Sony recently became the first platform holder to confirm its next-gen games will retail for up to $70/£70, as will selected games from third-party publishers including Activision‘s Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Take-Two‘s NBA 2K21.

Discussing increased next-gen software prices in the Naver interview, Ryan said: “It is difficult to talk about the overall game market or other game consoles, but I think the value is obvious in the case of the PS5.

“We’ll excite fans around the world with the best exclusive games on the market today and deliver a truly next-generation device experience that will captivate them.”

Multiple retailers sold out of PS5 pre-orders just hours after launch details were announced on September 16, despite Sony telling fans that pre-sales for the console would begin the following day.

PlayStation subsequently apologised for the troubled PS5 pre-order launch and promised to release more consoles to retailers. Selected US and UK retailers opened a second wave of PS5 pre-orders on September 25 which also sold out quickly.

A second wave of PS5 pre-orders is scheduled to launch in Korea on October 7.

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