PS4 Pro accounts for 1-in-5 PS4s sold
Sony says premium-priced console is exceeding its expectations; PS4 family has outsold Xbox 2-to-1 in US, 3-to-1 in Europe
The PlayStation 4 Pro is off to a solid start. Speaking with Time Magazine recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios head Shawn Layden and head of global sales and marketing Jim Ryan said the company's premium-priced console accounted for one out of every five PlayStation 4 systems sold.
"It is way ahead of our expectations," Ryan said. "As with PSVR, and I suppose in forecasting these things we haven't done a very good job, the product is in desperately short supply. So that's one-in-five under severe constraint."
The various iterations of the PlayStation 4 have collectively sold through a total of 60 million units since the first one debuted in November of 2013, well ahead of Microsoft's Xbox One almost from the start. While Microsoft seemed to gain some traction with the Xbox One last year, Ryan said that Sony has retained its comfortable lead in installed base.
"It's been pleasing that in North America, we've been 2-to-1 against Xbox," Ryan said. "But in Europe, it's really been fortress PlayStation by at least 3-to-1 in unit sales."
As for Nintendo's recent success with the Switch, Layden said the system was "definitely what the fanbase has been waiting for," but added it was more of a complementary option for gamers than a competitor to the PS4. He noted that Sony hasn't seen its numbers decline even as Nintendo's system has taken off at retail.
"When you look at our numbers, I think it shows that a lot of gamers are a two-console family," Layden said. "And quite often those two consoles are PlayStation and Nintendo sitting side-by-side."