16 PlayStation Statistics to Play Around With in 2023

Updated · May 20, 2023

Wipeout Pure, Crash Bandicoot, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War… in other words: PlayStation at its core.

Many of us grew up playing these games and still enjoy them from time to time—or maybe a bit more often than that, but that’s neither here nor there.

We at Hosting Tribunal have rounded up some PlayStation stats that are sure to bring about a bit of nostalgia, a bit of surprise, and a lot of interest.

Keep reading to find out more about the company’s revenue, market domination, subscriber count, and all the key metrics behind PlayStation’s past and current success.

Astonishing PlayStation Statistics to Keep In Mind in 2022

  • Sony's PlayStation holds 90% of the home console market.
  • PSN boasts 104 million active users worldwide.
  • Over 40% of all PlayStation gamers are female.
  • More than 47 million players use Sony's PS Plus subscription service.
  • With over 100 million units sold, the PlayStation 4 is the most successful console of this generation.
  • In 2020, Sony shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 units all over the world.
  • With a cumulative player count of 97 million, Grand Theft Auto V is the most-played PS4 game.
  • PS Now reached 3.2 million subscribers in 2021.

PlayStation History: Reviewing the Milestones

Sony’s PlayStation has been dominating the market since the beginning. The hype and demand for the newest console seems to only increase as the years go by.

Let’s take a quick look at some amazing PlayStation stats, kicking off with the basics.

1. PlayStation released its first console in 1994.

(Source: Britannica)

The first PlayStation console was introduced in Japan in December of 1994, and then made its way to the international market over the following year.

Ever since, Sony has been one of the industry leaders, producing a new console every six years or so, as well as making gaming subscription services (like the PS Now and the PS Plus) available for its worldwide audience.

2. Sony’s first PlayStation sold more than 100 million units.

(Source: Guinness World Records)

PlayStation made history in 2005 by becoming the first console to ship over 100 million units.

The console launched in 1994 and stayed in the market for 12 years. According to PS1 stats, Sony sold a total of 104.25 million units, making it the fourth best-selling console in the industry.

For comparison, the PS1’s major competitor, the N64, sold a little over 30 million units before Nintendo discontinued it.

3. The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time.

(Source: Hackernoon)

PlayStation sales stats show that, throughout the consoles’ lifetimes, people bought 102.4 million PS1s, 155 million PS2s, and 87.4 million PS3s. This means that—as of now—the PlayStation 2 is Sony’s best-selling console by far.

But more than that, the PS2 is also the best-selling console in the industry.

Throughout the years, Nintendo has been close on Sony’s heels, with the Wii, the Game Boy, and the DS surpassing 100 million units sold each. In fact, the Nintendo DS almost took the PS2’s title—at 154 million units sold, it was just a million units too short for success.

4. According to PlayStation statistics, people around the globe pre-ordered over one million PS4.

(Source: First Post)

The PlayStation 4 came out on November 15, 2013. By November 16, the company already boasted one million units sold. And by December 1st, that number had more than doubled, reaching 2.1 million in a fortnight.

Do you think the PS4’s launch sales are impressive?

Well, they’re not the only ones…

5. The PS5 sold more than 1.3 units in a single day.

(Source: GamesRadar)

To say that people were anxiously waiting for the PS5 would be an understatement.

PlayStation 5 stats show that people bought between 1.3 and 1.6 million units on November 12, 2020—i.e., the day the console launched in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

The console became available in the rest of the world a week later, on November 19. That day, people in Europe bought more than 660,000 consoles, and PS5 stats suggest hundreds of thousands of units were sold in the rest of the continents, too.

This means that the PS5 sold no less than 2.1 million units worldwide on launch.

6. Sony's PlayStation 4 boasts over 100 million units sold worldwide.

(Source: GamesRadar)

Although the console has been sharing the spotlight with its successor, the PS5, since late 2020, the PS4 is still holding its own. According to PlayStation sales stats, in the second half of 2020, Sony sold 2.4 million PS4s, and 7.8 million PS5s.

By mid 2021, though, the PS4 had surpassed 116 million units sold, whereas the PS5 had only reached 8.6 million—which means the newest console alone has brought Sony more than $3.8 billion in revenue so far.

PlayStation Market Share: Steady on the Lead

All things considered, 2020 and 2021 have been amazing years for Sony and PlayStation. Not only has the company seen astounding results for the PS5, but PlayStation Plus is also taking the market by storm.

Let’s take a quick look at some amazing PlayStation statistics that highlight the company’s dominance in the gaming market.

7. Sony holds 46% of the console market.

(Source: Games Industry)

Aside from Sony, the biggest players in the console market—which was worth $53.9 billion in 2020—are Microsoft (23%) and Nintendo (31%).

8. 84% of countries prefer the PS5 to the Xbox Series X.

(Source: Finder)

Looking at the count of PlayStation users by country, the gaming giant is quite popular in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and the majority of Europe—though no country surpasses Japan in terms of PlayStation popularity.

According to a recent study, 98.94% of Japanese gamers would seek a PS5 instead of an Xbox Series X, whereas the same is true for only 57% of the video-game enthusiasts in the US and the UK.

9. PlayStation owns more than 90% of the Indian market share in 2022.

(Source: Statcounter)

Sony has not been dominating more than just the US and the UK market. In fact, PlayStation statistics reveal the company is even stronger in India—and, given the huge demand for PS5, we wouldn’t be surprised if the number goes further up in the future.

Currently, Microsoft’s Xbox takes only 8.83% of the Indian market, whereas Nintendo gets a measly 0.02%.

10. PlayStation generated over $25.04 billion in revenue in 2020.

(Source: Game Informer)

Sony broke its own record for PlayStation revenue ($20.8 billion in 2018) by selling over $25 billion in 2020. This is the highest figure ever in the industry, earning the company $3.23 billion in profits.

The Game and Network Services is Sony’s biggest segment, accounting for around 30% of the company’s yearly revenue. Other prominent segments for the tech giant are Electronics ($18.1 billion) and Financial Services ($15.73 billion).

11. Over 40% of PlayStation gamers are female.

(Source: Push Square)

Looking at PlayStation players by gender, we can see that Sony’s female audience has grown significantly over the years. Back when the PS1 was still in the market, only 18% of  the owners were women and girls, but that figure has nearly tripled for the PS4 and PS5, reaching 41%.

Presumably, the increase is partly fueled by the introduction of strong female characters in games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

PlayStation Facts: Beyond the Consoles

While generally associated with teenagers, the video game industry has evolved in recent years to accommodate different audiences, newer technologies, and trending business models, too.

Let’s take a look at some more PlayStation stats so you can see just how successful Sony’s other gaming ventures are.

12. The PlayStation Network boasts over 100 million monthly active users.

(Source: Statista)

The PSN’s user base had been on a steady upwards trend for a few years now, reaching its own all-time high in 2020 (114 million players). However, the numbers seem to have stagnated since then, with 2021’s quarterly reports showing only a little more than 104 million PSN active users instead.

But the PlayStation Network vs Xbox Live battle is still ongoing.

The number of Xbox Live users had also been steadily rising over the years until 2019, when it reached 65 million users. And then COVID-19 came, prompting a dramatic increase in Xbox Live’s user base, which reached 100 million players by the end of 2020.

So, as you see, the game is getting tighter.

13. PlayStation Plus has over 47 million subscribers.

(Source: Statista)PlayStation Plus stats show the subscriber count reached an all-time high in March 2021, boasting 47.6 million members—which is honestly a bit surprising, considering that the retail value of the subscription has dropped in the last few years.

Back in 2018, PS Plus members received a total of $1,508.74 in the form of free video games, but that figure plummeted to a little less than $900 in 2019, and dropped all the way to $789.72 in 2020.

14. PlayStation Home is back to life, though not because of Sony.

(Source: Video Games Chronicle)

In case you don’t remember, PlayStation Home was a 3D gaming platform where PS3 players could interact online. The app shut down in 2015, just seven years after it launched, though PlayStation Home statistics show that by the end of its (original) lifetime, the platform had gathered more than 40 million users.

Well, some of those players loved it so much that they created a group called Destination Home and embarked on a preservation project. So far, they’ve brought back the Hub, the Bowling Alley, and the Playground by donating Home data from their own PS3s.

15. There are 3.2 million PlayStation Now subscribers.

(Source: The Verge)PS Now is Sony’s cloud gaming service (like a video game Netflix, if you will).

Back in 2019, the company reported one million paid subscribers, but after cutting the prices and touching up the offer—the company added a few modern blockbusters to the PS Now library, like Grand Theft Auto V and God of War—the subscriber count doubled in the span of a year.

By mid 2021, the number had surged again, surpassing the three-million milestone.

16. Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling game on PS4.

(Source: The Gamer)

Although the game had been around since before the PS4 came out, its remastered version was so successful—PlayStation game stats show that cumulative sales surpass 20 million copies—that it’ll go over to the PS5, too.

Other popular PS4 games include Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Call of Duty: Black Ops III, each boasting more than 15 million copies sold.

Wrap Up

If there’s anything that the PlayStation stats above suggest, is that Sony’s future in the game console market is secure—though Nintendo and Microsoft will be sure to keep things interesting, pushing themselves and each other towards greater things one video game at a time.

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.