PS4/Xbox One combined sales reach 55 million units, estimates EA boss

According to Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen, 55 million combined PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles were sold worldwide before the end of 2015. Jorgensen revealed the figure during a recent earnings briefing, where he also compared the numbers to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sales over the same period in their respective lifecycles.

"The console purchases are up through the end of calendar year '15," he said. "Our estimate is 55 million units out there which has exceeded virtually everyone's forecast for the year and is now almost 50 percent higher than previous console cycle so, all of that is very, very positive."

55 million is even ahead of EA's own predictions. Back in November, Jorgensen predicted that combined console sales would reach 50-51 million units worldwide by the end of 2015.

"Clearly, consoles have sold faster than everyone expected," he said at the time.

With close to 36 million units sold worldwide, the PS4 is the global sales leader. If Jorgensen's 55 million estimation is correct, that would put Xbox One sales at around 19 million units. Earlier this month, Mary J. Foley of GameSpot sister site ZDNet reported that Xbox One sales have reached at least 18 million units, though of course this is not an official number.

Microsoft reported earnings this week, confirming that it shipped more Xbox One consoles during the holiday period than it did the year prior. However, as stated previously, Microsoft does not plan to announce specific Xbox One console shipment numbers going forward.

December 2015 was the Xbox One's best US sales month on record, according to Microsoft.