X

Sony's PlayStation 4 sells 18.5 million units

The entertainment giant touts big sales of its gaming console, especially during the holidays, during its CES keynote.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
See full bio
Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
See full bio
Dara Kerr
Roger Cheng

3befce21-0060-4661-a97f-918d340d67ae.jpg
Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai boasts big sales of the company's PlayStation 4 gaming console. Sarah Tew/CNET

Despite Sony reporting some hefty financial losses this year, sales of its PlayStation 4 gaming console haven't been too shabby.

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai announced Monday that the company's Playstation 4 sold more than 4.1 million units during this holiday season and total sales so far have been 18.5 million units. PlayStation Online now boasts 10.9 million subscribers.

The success of PlayStation 4 has enabled a new world for PlayStation, Hirai said during a presentation at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show on Monday. Together with third-party developers, the company will continue to provide Sony's signature "wow" to valued customers, Hirai said. The entertainment company debuted the PlayStation 4 in 2013 as a competitor to Microsoft's Xbox One.

Despite the gaming console doing well with consumers, the company still had financial woes over the last few years. Sony posted a $1.2 billion loss in the fiscal second quarter of 2014 after its mobile division hit rock bottom. Looking ahead, Sony isn't expecting its entire business to turn around quickly. At the end of its fiscal year in March, the company expects to post an annual loss of about $2.1 billion.