Sony expects PlayStation 5 to smash PS4 sales in next 5 years

The PS5 is expected to sell 120 million consoles across its first five-year period, eclipsing the PS4's current sales by nearly 10 million units.

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Sony has lofty ambitions for its next-gen PlayStation 5. The console is expected to sell 120 million units in 5 years' time, which beats the PlayStation 4's staggering 110.4 million sell-in figure by nearly 10 million. For perspective, it took the PS4 nearly 7 years to accrue these numbers.

Sources close to the PS5's manufacturing plans tell DigiTimes that PS5 sales estimates sit between 120 million - 170 million from now until 2025, which is monumental to say the least.

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With these numbers, the PS5 could even beat the PS2's long-running 155 million sales reign. Recent reports also say Sony plans to make 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles in preparation for the worldwide Holiday 2020 launch. If all the units sold, the PS5 would exceed the PS4's 7.5 million launch sales by 33%.

AMD is currently shipping 7nm SoCs to Sony's manufacturing facilities for PlayStation 5 assembly, which includes its specially-automated plant in Kisarazu that can belt out two PlayStation 4 consoles every minute.

The PlayStation 4 has had an immensely successful run since its release in 2013, and is now the second best-selling PlayStation console of all time. The platform has sold over 1 billion games across a massive 110 million+ install base.

Luckily for Sony, the PS5 won't disrupt the PS4's legacy, but instead carry it forward thanks to extensive backwards compatibility support. Sony plans to allow thousands of PS4 games to be played on the PS5. The PlayStation 5 was built from the ground up with backwards compatibility in mind.

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Sony says it doesn't plan to retire the PlayStation 4 until at least 2022.

Despite the higher MSRP of the premium enthusiast-grade console, Sony clearly expects high demand for the PlayStation 5. Current manufacturing estimates pinpoint a $450 bill of materials for each PlayStation 5, which doesn't include other costs like worldwide shipping, pinning the retail costs between $499 - $549.

Sony has yet to announce a firm price on either the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, which ships without a disc drive, or the full PlayStation 5 that ships with a 4K UHD BDXL-compatible disc drive.