PlayStation 5 tops 50 million units sold

Over three years after release, the PlayStation 5 has sold over 50 million units.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) attributed the surpassed milestone to 2023's "strong momentum" and a release of "highly popular games." Beyond Marvel's Spider-Man 2 this past October, the system boasted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as a can't-miss game to play on PS5.

Nearly five months ago, the console was at 40 million lifetime sales. Beyond the games, it likely helped that two Slim variants released this past November, and will replace the bulkier launch consoles once those run out of stock.

Outlets such as VGC have noted the PS5 reached the 50 million mark just a week slower than the PlayStation 4 did during its heyday. Granted, the latter console wasn't roadblocked by a pandemic and by extension, supply chain issues that were sorted out earlier this year.

Departing CEO Jim Ryan noted the lack of supply problems in the press release, expressing relief in this being "the first holiday season since launch that we have a full supply of PS5 consoles – so anyone who wants to get one can get one.”

PlayStation 5's first-party future

In recent weeks, the future of the PlayStation 5 has been called into question, primarily because its first-party future is all over the place.

Most recently, Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games suffered a data breach that revealed employee information and its alleged next decade of projects.

Last week, Naughty Dog made headlines when it revealed it'd canceled The Last of Us Online. The live-service spinoff had been in development for years, but was suffering from a general lack of direction.

And Bungie, SIE's most recent prestige acquisition, may have its entire future in jeopardy depending on the performance of Destiny 2: The Final Shape next summer.

Hovering over each of these stories is news from November that PlayStation is scaling back its live-service ambitions.

At least half of its 12 titles have been pushed back, but that was prior to Naughty Dog's cancellation. That number may have changed even further now with the Insomniac breach.