UPDATED 09:15 EST / JANUARY 06 2015

Sony CEO Kazou Hirai NEWS

PlayStation 4 reaches 18.4 million sales worldwide

Sony CEO Kazou Hirai

Sony Computer Entertainment closed out 2014 with a strong showing for the PlayStation 4, which has sold more than 18.4 million units worldwide in a little more than a year since its initial release in November 2013.

Roughly 4.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles – over 22 percent of the total sales – were sold in the 6-week 2014 holiday season alone. The company also boasts that the PlayStation Network user base has reached 10.9 million subscribers.

2014 was a big year Sony. The original PlayStation console celebrated its 20th anniversary in December, and Sony released a limited edition PlayStation 4 that was themed to look like its first console, complete with a 1990s computer-gray shell and the original four-color PlayStation logo. One of the special edition PlayStation 4 consoles sold for $20k on ebay.

Sony also held its first ever PlayStation Experience (PSX), a PlayStation-only game conference that – unlike E3 – was dedicated to gamers rather than industry press. PSX showcased trailers, gameplay footage and big announcements for the console.

 

PlayStation Now

 

2015 is shaping up to be another big year for Sony with the upcoming release of the PlayStation Now subscription service. PlayStation Now is a video game streaming service that will be available for a $20 per month subscription, and it will allow users to play over a hundred PlayStation 3 titles, including big name franchises like Final FantasyMass Effect and Dead Space.

PlayStation Now will support streaming to the PS Vita, Sony Smart TVs and Sony Xperia phones. The company also plans on expanding PlayStation Now to some non-Sony devices, such as select Samsung Smart TVs.

Microsoft, Sony’s main competitor in the western console market, had announced before the holiday season that the Xbox One had sold over 10 million copies. Xbox has been pushing hard to entice gamers over the last few months, selling Xbox bundles that include AAA titles like Assassin’s Creed: Unity—although with Unity‘s now-infamous glitches and other problems, Xbox may have picked the wrong game to drive sales.

Microsoft has yet to release their post-holiday sales figures, but with the recent price cut to the system, it is likely that the console had a strong showing at the end of the year.


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