Becomes the fourth fastest-selling games console and the highest revenue ever
By GfK Games Specialist Dorian Bloch
According to GfK’s point of sale data, PlayStation 5 (PS5) has achieved a significant sales milestone, selling 2 million units in the UK. This puts it level with PS3 in terms of the time taken to achieve the landmark. The only consoles to arrive at the 2 million point faster were Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PS2 and PS4.
PS5’s sales value reached £919 million, making it the most profitable performance of any home console to date. At two million units sold by comparison, Xbox One generated £726 million, PS4 £700 million and Nintendo Wii £358 million.
There had been some speculation that the gamers would be unwilling to pay the £105 price premium for PS5 but the higher cost failed to hinder sales. Rather, it was stock problems and supply chain challenges that caused delays.
Time to two million:
- Nintendo Wii comes in first at just over one year (57 weeks =1.1 years).
- PS2 takes the second spot at 60 weeks (1.16 years)
- PS4 is third at 75 weeks (1.44 years).
- PS5/PS3 take fourth with 98 weeks (1.88 years).
- Xbox One took 104 weeks to reach 2 million (exactly two years)
- Xbox 360 took 110 weeks (2.12 years).
- PS1 took 114 weeks (2.19 years).
- Nintendo Switch took the longest (2.69 years) but continues to sell steadily. It has benefitted from new versions (Switch Lite portable) and from a huge sales uplift from the first pandemic lockdown.
