Sony Sells 6 Million PS4 Consoles

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 4, 6:36AM EST · Published Mar 4, 4:39AM EST

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Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) announced it has sold six million PS4 gaming units, which the Japanese company says is ahead of schedule.

It said:

As you’ve probably read by now, cumulative PS4 sales have now surpassed six million units worldwide following the successful launch in Japan just over a week ago. It’s truly humbling to see the rate at which gamers across the globe are choosing PS4 as their next gen console of choice. Even more exciting is what happens when gamers power up their PS4s. In the United States, more than 90% of PS4s are online, enabling gamers to connect, compete and share their greatness with friends and fellow gamers.
There have now been more than 3.6 million live broadcasts, and more than 56 million spectate sessions on PS4 through Twitch and Ustream. In fact, since January 1st, PS4 gamers account for 20% of daily broadcasters on Twitch. PS4 owners are also embracing the Share button on the DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless Controller, with more than 100 million shares captured as fans show friends their latest achievements on Facebook and Twitter.

Sony needs the success. It is locked in it perennial battle with Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox One. It has also faced challenges from consumers who play games on smartphones and tablets.

Sony’s earnings have been poor for years. Its battered camera and TV businesses have been hurt by low margins. Its studio revenue is uneven, as is the case for most major studios that are victim to the success of big movies.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.