Sony will have sold over 100 million PlayStation 4 consoles by the time the PS5 is released

Sony has revealed that 17.8 million PlayStation 4 consoles were shipped in fiscal year 2018, which although down from the 19 million units that went out in 2017 is still solid proof of the gaming machine’s enduring popularity. Naturally, PS4 sales will drop heavily when the PlayStation 5 hits the shelves, but the eighth-generation console still has over 12 months to hit that magical 100 million mark.

The forecast for sales over the next fiscal year for the PS4 is 16 million units, which would put the worldwide total at around 112-113 million consoles sold during its lifetime. It’s been reported that PS5 devkits have only just started arriving at third-party studios, so a launch of a next-generation console within the next 12 months is apparently not going to happen.

There is a comment in finance speak in the report that will get PS5-watchers excited though. A 31.1 billion yen (~US$278.4 million) decrease in operating income is predicted for FY2019. Some of this is down to fluctuating foreign exchange rates and smaller profit margins with first-party titles, but this reason is also given as a contributing factor: “Increase in development expenses for the next generation console.” The PlayStation 5 is definitely on its way.