Sony’s recent Business Segment Meeting had some very interesting facts that could reignite the age-old debate on whether its PlayStation consoles are better than Microsoft’s Xbox. It’s a statistic that is sure to raise a few eyebrows, and perhaps influence more than a few buying decisions down the line.

Revealing the lifetime sales of its current-gen console, the PlayStation 5, Sony highlighted how its profitability is well ahead of every preceding generation of PlayStation consoles. That’s quite the milestone for a console that faced multiple issues with its supply chain in the early days of its release on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Most Successful Iteration of PlayStation to Date

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PlayStation has been a constant presence in the gaming industry for many years.

It was a single slide from Sony that is the focus of this conversation, as the PS5 has managed to overturn the PS4’s record of sales in just under 4 years since its release. This is despite the PS4 having seven whole years to rack up its numbers while the PS5 suffered the aforementioned handicap upon its release.

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With a clear margin of sales pushing the PS5 to the top of Sony’s list of profitable consoles, a spot that was held by the PS4, many fans have responded to these figures with a lot of nuanced opinions.

What Did PlayStation Fans Have to Say?

More like sales have no limits.
More like sales have no limits.

Many PlayStation fans added their own two cents to the debate. There were many interesting perspectives that may add more nuance to the debate too.

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An important detail brought to light from the responses was a question on how software sales have performed since the PlayStation 5’s release. It’s significant as it highlights Sony’s strategy of games exclusive to PlayStations, which has come under criticism in recent years.

Another valid question that was raised by users points to how the PS5 and PS4 have co-existed on account of the former’s low availability which forced studios to release games on both consoles in order to appeal to as many players as possible.

That could be a good point, considering some of PlayStation’s own exclusives like Horizon Forbidden West were released on both consoles to keep players happy. Other users point to the PS5’s higher pricing as a factor in its significant growth over its predecessor.

Another interesting take on the subject was the addition of backwards compatibility, which Sony finally chose to do on several last-gen titles for the PS5.

While all of these are valid points, there is no denying that the PS5 is a very capable console that Sony’s exclusive titles make very good use of.