While no official numbers have been released in terms of sales figures for North America, PlayStation has declared the PS5 launch the biggest console launch ever in the history of the company. This would make sense considering pre-sale numbers toppled the PlayStation 4. PlayStation also confirmed that more units will be coming to retailers by the end of the year.
We want to thank gamers everywhere for making the PS5 launch our biggest console launch ever. Demand for PS5 is unprecedented, so we wanted to confirm that more PS5 inventory will be coming to retailers before the end of the year – please stay in touch with your local retailers.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) November 25, 2020
While there are no sales figures for North America, the numbers for Japan have been revealed. The PlayStation 5 sold 118,085 units. Of the 118,085, 14,184 were the digital edition of the console.
Thanks to you, we had our largest launch day in Xbox history.
More people are playing than ever before, and what’s better, we’re playing together.
We can’t wait for you to keep showing us the power of play: https://t.co/onflkwpMCD pic.twitter.com/rlQmcYaGB1
— Xbox (@Xbox) November 13, 2020
Sony wasn’t the only company with a big console launch this fall. Microsoft also announced that the launch of Xbox Series X|S was the biggest launch in Xbox history. No numbers were given out as well, but Microsoft did share that more new consoles were sold than any prior generation, with Xbox Series S adding the highest percentage of new players for any Xbox console at launch. There was a total of 3,594 games played across four generations setting a record for the most games ever played during an Xbox console launch. Lastly, Microsoft shared that 70 percent of Xbox Series X|S consoles are attached to new and existing Xbox Game Pass members. Like Sony, Microsoft is trying to bring in more inventory to local retailers. However, the supply shortages for Xbox Series X|S are expected to continue until April 2021 so if you were hoping to get one this year, it looks like you might have to wait.