PS4 Pro was heralded as a significant leap forward in the PlayStation ecosystem when it was first unveiled in September, but sales stats seemingly suggest consumers are feeling a bit lukewarm on the high-spec console.
Sony has declined to reveal any PS4 Pro-specific sales numbers since the product launched and combined earnings report recaps from SegmentNext, Polygon and GameSpot tell us why. The simple story is this: days before the launch of the Pro on Nov. 10, Sony reported that 47 million PS4s had been sold worldwide. By Dec. 6 that number rose to 50 million and was 53.4 as of Jan. 1. In short, about 6 million PS4s have been sold globally since the Pro came to retailers.
That number is extremely respectable for the holiday season, but we have to consider that it must be segmented if we’re talking about the Pro. We’ll never know for sure what the exact system breakdown is, but let’s just say the numbers were split evenly between Pro and standard PS4. That would tell us the high-sepc offering has sold about 3 million units since November. We’d guess it’s probably closer to 2 million or 2.5 million, though.
Again, the stat sounds nice, but it’s not as good as it seems. Consider that the PS4 sold over 1 million units on launch day in the U. S. alone. Doing the math, PS4 was selling about 1.5 million units a month before the Pro existed. What we can say is that the Pro likely benefited from a strong first few weeks at retail, but its momentum seems to have slowed down some.
While it’s true the standard PS4 and PS4 Pro are two different types of consoles to suit different needs, there are definite signs in the numbers that suggest gamers are a bit tepid on Sony’s mid-gen offering. Not only have we not seen an exact sales breakdown, but Sony hasn’t talked about the Pro much at all. When companies are silent and sales get lumped together, those aren’t positive indicators.
As for why the PS4 Pro seems to be underperforming, we can think of a few reasons. For one, the penetration of 4K TVs simply isn’t high enough yet for a 4K console like the Pro to be successful. Beyond that, reports of incompatibility with certain TVs and worse performance than the standard PS4 don’t help the cause either. That’s not to say everyone that has a Pro hates it, but its launch certainly had a few snags. Is this a sign of trouble for the Xbox Scorpio, or was Sony’s half-step console not good enough?
The PS4 Pro is available now for $399. Standard PS4s are also available for $299.
Are PS4 Pro sales as low as they seem? Are mid-gen refresh consoles a bad idea in general? Tell us in the comments section!
