Sony has quietly crossed a line no PlayStation since the PS4 has reached: its Business Data & Sales page now lists PS5 at “more than 100 million” units as of November 10, 2026. The headline number is real, but the quarterly table sitting under it tells a more interesting story, and it matters if you are deciding whether to buy a console this holiday season.
What Sony actually reported
The figure comes straight from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s own data page, which labels its numbers “sell-in.” That means consoles shipped into the retail channel, not consoles confirmed to be sitting in someone’s living room. The hardware table also notes that it includes returned and refurbished products, and the page does not split the total by model, so you cannot tell how many are disc editions, Digital Editions or Pro consoles.
The quarterly numbers show a slowdown
PS5 shipments peaked in Sony’s fiscal 2023 (April 2023 to March 2024) at 20.8 million units. Fiscal 2024 came in at 18.5 million and fiscal 2025 at 16.0 million. This fiscal year so far, Sony lists 1.6 million for April to June and 2.6 million for July to September. A year earlier those same quarters were 2.5 million and 4.0 million.
Sony does not explain the drop on that page, so any reason is guesswork. A console in its sixth year of sales naturally cools, and the quarters before a major release are often quiet. Still, shipments running well below last year is a fact, not a spin.
One bit of arithmetic of my own: adding up every quarter Sony has published through September gets you to roughly 97.9 million. Since the total passed 100 million by November 10, that implies a couple of million more units shipped in October and early November, a quarter Sony has not reported yet. The October to December quarter has been the biggest of the year every time, at 7.9 million in the last one.
How 100 million compares
On the same page, Shacknews reports Sony lists the PS2 at about 160 million, the PS4 above 117 million and the PS3 at 87.4 million. The PS4 number is dated mid-2022, so it is not a like-for-like snapshot. GamesRadar framed the PS5 milestone as the first Sony console to reach 100 million without a price cut. I have not independently checked Sony’s pricing history, so treat that as GamesRadar’s framing.
What it means if you are shopping
A huge installed base is good news for owners: publishers keep building for a platform this big. It says nothing about whether a discount is coming, and Sony has not announced one. With GTA VI arriving November 19, demand should be strong, so if you want a console for launch, buy on your own timeline rather than waiting on a rumor. If you plan to download the game, our guide to the 212 GB pre-load and storage rules is worth a read first, and GamesRadar notes the PS5 Pro now sits at $900, which is a lot to ask for an upgrade over a base model.
Bottom Line
PS5 passing 100 million is a legitimate milestone, but it is a shipment count for a console that is selling more slowly than it did a year ago. For buyers it means a mature, well-supported platform, not a signal that prices are about to move.
FAQ
Does 100 million mean 100 million people own a PS5?
Not exactly. Sony’s figure is sell-in, meaning units shipped to retailers and distributors. Some of those are still on shelves, and some people own more than one console.
Is the PS5 selling slower than last year?
Based on Sony’s own table, shipments for April to June (1.6 million) and July to September (2.6 million) are below the same quarters last year (2.5 million and 4.0 million). Sony does not give a reason on the page.
Will GTA VI push PS5 sales back up?
Sony has made no such claim. The October to December quarter is traditionally its biggest, so that report is the one to watch, but until Sony publishes it there is no data on a GTA VI effect.
Featured image: Photo by Roberto Vincenzo Minasi on Unsplash.
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