Sony has shipped 17.3 million PS5 consoles as of the end of 2021

Sony has announced that it shipped 3.9 million PlayStation 5 consoles during Q3 of its fiscal year, bringing the total number of consoles shipped to 17.3 million.

In comparison, Sony shipped 4.5 million PS5 units in the same timeframe last year.

In its February 2022 earnings report, Sony said: “Sales are expected to be lower than the October forecast due to an expected decrease in PlayStation 5 hardware unit sales, primarily due to shortages in the supply of components, especially semiconductors”

The company also revealed that as of the end of 2021, 48 million users are subscribed to PlayStation Plus, up slightly from 47.4 million during the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Sony’s previous console, the PlayStation 4, is currently outpacing the newest model, having sold roughly 20.2 million in the same period. As shown in a graph from Senior Analyst at Niko Partners Daniel Ahmad, the PS5 is lagging behind its predecessor, thanks in no small part to ongoing component shortages.

Sony has reportedly extended production of the PlayStation 4 console beyond its intended lifecycle.

That’s according to a recent report by Bloomberg, which claims that the corporation had planned to stop making PS4 consoles last year but has now told assembly partners it will continue making the console through 2022.

The decision will see the creation of around one million PS4 units this year, it’s claimed, and offset some of the pressure on PlayStation 5 production, which requires more advanced chips.

Increasing production will also help Sony negotiate better deals with manufacturing partners, according to Bloomberg’s sources.