PS5 shipments top 100 million, fourth PlayStation to do it
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Sony Interactive Entertainment says more than 100 million PS5 consoles have shipped to retailers as of November 10, the fourth PlayStation to hit the mark.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has confirmed that the PlayStation 5 has passed 100 million consoles shipped to retailers (sell-in) as of November 10, 2026. The figure was published on the company's official Business Data & Sales page and makes the PS5 the fourth PlayStation to reach the mark, after the original PlayStation, the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 4.
The milestone arrived two days before the console turned six. The PS5 launched on November 12, 2020 in select markets — the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea — and on November 19 across the rest of the world, including Brazil. According to the official numbers, that means 2.1 million additional units in roughly 40 days, since Sony had reported 97.9 million as of September 30, when it released its fiscal 2026 second-quarter results.
The mark lands at an unusual moment for the industry. The PS5 is the first console in the family to clear 100 million while dealing with price increases throughout its life cycle, rather than the steady discounting that defined previous generations. Even so, the installed base should get another push in the coming weeks with the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, which Rockstar Games has confirmed for November 19.
What "100 million" means — and what it does not
The distinction Sony itself makes on its data page matters: the number refers to "Cumulative Worldwide Hardware Unit Sales (Sell-in)", meaning consoles sold by the manufacturer to retailers, not devices actually in players' hands. It is the industry's standard metric and the only one all three platform holders report in a comparable way — Microsoft, for instance, no longer discloses Xbox Series X|S figures.
In practice, sell-in shows how much stock is leaving factories for store shelves, and it anticipates how the holiday quarter will behave. The pace of the last 40 days, at roughly 52,000 consoles a day, is exactly the kind of movement that precedes a major launch: retailers build inventory ahead of a game that tends to pull hardware sales along with software.
The figure also needs to be read in historical context. When Sony says "more than 100 million", it is being deliberately conservative: the real number may be a few thousand units higher, and the company only updates the spreadsheet when a new round milestone is closed. The same standard applies to every generation listed on the official page.
The fourth PlayStation — and the eighth console ever
Before the PS5, only three PlayStation consoles had crossed the 100 million line. The first was the original PlayStation, which ended its life at 102.4 million units; then came the PlayStation 2, holder of the all-time record at 160 million; and finally the PlayStation 4, at 117 million — still the second best-selling home console in Sony's history.
| Console | Units (sell-in) | Reference date |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | More than 100 million | November 10, 2026 |
| PlayStation 4 | More than 117 million | June 30, 2022 |
| PlayStation 2 | More than 160 million | March 31, 2012 |
| PlayStation | More than 102.4 million | March 31, 2012 |
| PlayStation 3 | More than 87.4 million | March 31, 2017 |
| PSP | More than 76.4 million | March 31, 2012 |
"PlayStation 5 — More than 100 million (As of November 10, 2026)."
Widening the list to the whole industry, the PS5 becomes the eighth video game system to pass 100 million. The other seven are the PS2 (160 million), the Nintendo Switch (157.2 million as of September 30, 2026), the Nintendo DS, the Game Boy, the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation and the Wii — all with figures in the hundreds of millions, accumulated over careers that in several cases lasted more than a decade.
One detail tempers the celebration, though: the PS5 has not yet overtaken the original PlayStation. It needs about 2.4 million more units to match the first console's 102.4 million, a mark it should reach within weeks if the current pace holds. Passing the PS4's 117 million is possible but would require several more years of production — unlikely on a calendar that already points to the next generation.
A slower pace than the PS4
The PS5 needed almost six years to reach 100 million. The PS4 took five years and seven months, hitting the mark on June 30, 2019, with the milestone announced on July 30 that year — at the time, the fastest console ever to get there. In a direct comparison, the current generation therefore ran about four months behind its predecessor.
Aligned by time on the market, the PS5 is also roughly 5 million units behind the PS4 at the same stage. The gap comes down to a combination of factors that did not exist last generation. The main one is price: instead of falling, the hardware got more expensive in several markets over the past few years, pressured by rising memory component costs and production inflation. A console that never gets cheaper takes longer to reach the second-half-of-life buyers who usually purchase on impulse during sales.
| Period | Units shipped | Change |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025, Q2 (Jul–Sep 2025) | 4.0 million | — |
| FY2026, Q1 (Apr–Jun 2026) | 1.6 million | — |
| FY2026, Q2 (Jul–Sep 2026) | 2.6 million | −35% year over year |
The quarterly numbers make the slowdown plain. In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, ended September 30, Sony shipped 2.6 million PS5 units — a 35% drop from the 4.0 million of the same period a year earlier. For the full fiscal 2025, shipments totaled 16.0 million, against 18.5 million in fiscal 2024. It is a classic late-generation downward curve, softened only by the arrival of the PS5 Pro, released in November 2024 for players willing to pay more for performance.
Even so, the console still has room to keep selling. An installed base of 100 million is the number that matters most to publishers: it is what Sony negotiates exclusivity deals, marketing agreements and long-term support for services like PlayStation Plus against. A base that size also extends the life of cross-gen games, which keep launching on PS4 and PS5 at the same time.
GTA 6, record profit and the end of a generation
The milestone lands in a decisive week for Sony. On November 19, Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto VI for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S — the most anticipated game of the decade and, according to analysts, the main driver of hardware sales in late 2026. The expectation is that the title lifts not only console purchases but also service subscriptions and accessories.
The most recent results already show a healthy PlayStation, even with hardware in decline. On November 5, Sony reported a record second-quarter operating profit for its Game & Network Services segment: 220.1 billion yen, up 83% year over year, on revenue of 1,208.5 billion yen. The company raised its full-year gaming sales and operating income forecasts by 6%, to 4.83 trillion yen and 700 billion yen respectively.
Engagement numbers help explain the optimism. Sony counted 127 million monthly active users as of September 30, 2026, and 1.795 billion games sold for PS4 and PS5 since the platforms launched — 88.2 million of them in the last quarter alone, against 80.3 million a year earlier. In other words: fewer new consoles, more people playing and buying software.
Not everything is good news. On November 10, PlayStation cancelled Fairgames, the heist shooter in development at Haven Studios since 2021, after years of delays and a playtest considered disappointing. The Montreal studio founded by Jade Raymond will not be closed: it will shift to supporting other PlayStation Studios teams.
"Haven Studios will shift focus to collaborating with other development teams across PlayStation Studios, while also exploring new creative opportunities."
Among first-party releases, Marvel's Wolverine sold 2.4 million units, a figure the specialist press treated as disappointing for a title of its scale. And the near future carries an open question: reports from outlets such as IGN indicate that next-generation consoles could cost more than $1,000 at launch, which would turn the PS6 into a niche product compared with the PS5.
What it means for players
For players, the 100 million mark has practical consequences. The first is longevity: with an installed base that size, it is reasonable to expect games to keep coming to PS5 for years after the next console arrives, including titles from smaller studios that depend on the platform's reach to pay for themselves.
The second is price. Hardware has become more expensive in most markets, and the surge in memory component costs should keep consoles costly in the short term. Anyone waiting for a significant drop before the end of the cycle will probably be disappointed: the industry-wide trend is stability or increases, not discounts. Trade-in programs, such as the one Sony tested in the United States with up to $400 off a new PS5, have no announced plans to expand.
The third is the calendar. With GTA 6 arriving on November 19, promotional bundles combining console and game are likely to appear in the coming weeks, especially in online retail. Anyone planning to buy the console for that game should compare the bundle price with the cost of the game separately — the difference is usually small, but it exists.
What to watch through the end of the year
- Holiday quarter sales: Sony's next fiscal report, covering October to December, will be the first to measure GTA 6's impact on hardware.
- Stock and bundles: the inventory build seen in November points to aggressive retail promotions through Christmas.
- Closing in on the PS4: about 17 million units separate the PS5 from its predecessor's 117 million.
- Next generation: any signal about PS6 pricing and timing changes the math for anyone considering a PS5 purchase right now.
The PS5 reaches 100 million in a very different landscape from the one in which the PS4 hit the same mark in 2019. There is no longer the natural hardware discounting, the life cycle looks shorter, and the competition has changed shape — the Nintendo Switch, at 157.2 million, became the phenomenon of the generation. Even so, the fourth PlayStation to cross the nine-digit line confirms the strength of a platform that, six years after launch, remains the centre of gravity of the console industry.
The official data can be found on Sony Interactive Entertainment's Business Data & Sales page. The GTA 6 announcement is on the Rockstar Games Newswire, and the Fairgames cancellation was reported by Bloomberg. On what the game demands from the console's storage, revisit our story on GTA 6's 210 GB install on PS5; to compare with the previous generation, see also Harada's criticism of the Xbox Series S. More industry news is available in O Santuário Geek's Games section.
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