Poll: Do You Think PS5 Can Outsell PS4 with Its New Price Point?

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No matter how you feel about Sony’s performance lately, they’ve done a good job handling a lot of difficult worldwide challenges.

PlayStation has been facing a constant stream of challenges recently, from the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions in the supply of computer chips, to trade tariffs, rising prices, the rise of artificial intelligence, and now the war in Iran. It feels like one difficulty follows another.

Despite a significant price increase, the console has generally performed comparably to the PS4.

Man, it feels like yesterday I was seeing PS5s for around $400 when they first came out. Now, with everyone talking about the PS6 possibly coming soon, even the cheapest PS5 you can find is almost $600. It’s crazy how prices have jumped!

Of course, rising prices are a factor, but they go against what gamers have come to expect for over thirty years. Traditionally, consoles have always become more affordable as a generation goes on – that’s just been the standard.

So it begs the question, with the PS5 now more expensive than ever, can it outsell the PS4?

Before the recent significant price hike, we were confident in the console’s success. Upcoming games like GTA 6 and Marvel’s Wolverine should still provide a strong boost in sales, and we anticipated it would be available alongside the next PlayStation (PS6) for a while.

Now we’re not so sure.

As of December 31st, 2025, Sony has sold 92.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles. For comparison, they had sold 117.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles as of March 31st, 2022.

Just to be clear, both of these numbers represent how many consoles were sent to stores, not how many were actually purchased by customers. We want to be upfront about that.

Holding onto unsold consoles costs money, so they usually don’t stay in warehouses for long. There aren’t massive, unused piles of consoles just sitting around collecting dust; they eventually get purchased by customers.

Based on recent sales figures, we estimate the PS5 has sold roughly 25 million more units than the PS4.

Now that the PS5 costs more than expected, will it ultimately sell more units than the PS4?

Well, there are a couple of factors to consider, namely GTA 6, which we mentioned earlier.

Rockstar’s new game is almost certain to be the biggest release of this console generation, and Sony is likely to be the primary partner for promoting it.

This new release will definitely boost console sales, but it’s likely most buyers will already own a PS5. While we expect a good increase in sales, it probably won’t be massive unless Sony offers attractive bundles or special versions of the console.

Sony looks set to finish this console generation very strongly with highly anticipated games like Marvel’s Wolverine, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and a potential new God of War title from Santa Monica Studio. However, most of these sales will likely come from players who already own a PlayStation console.

When the PlayStation 6 comes out could really impact things. If it’s delayed past 2027 – maybe even into 2028 or later – the PS5 will have more time to continue selling well.

As a PlayStation fan, I’m really curious to see what Sony does with the PS5 after the PS6 comes out. They had a pretty long overlap between the PS4 and PS5, but honestly, they didn’t seem to care much about keeping the PS4 as a cheaper option once the PS5 was available. I’m hoping they learn from that and give the PS5 a bit more love even when the PS6 is out there.

If the rumored price of the PS6 reaches $1,000, Sony might continue selling the PS5 as a more affordable choice. However, this depends on how much it costs to make the PS5; if manufacturing remains expensive, Sony could stop production altogether and focus entirely on building the PS6.

It’s hard to say how much longer the PlayStation 5 will be popular, and because of that, it’s difficult to know if it will ultimately outsell the PlayStation 4.

As a PlayStation fan, I’m predicting the PS5 will finally hit over 100 million units sold this year, but it’s going to take a while to catch up to the PS4’s numbers. Unless the PS6 gets pushed back past 2027, I think the PS5 and PS4 will end up selling roughly the same amount overall.

In the end, it’s not a major concern because the PlayStation 5 has already proven more financially successful than any of Sony’s past consoles. This is largely due to the increasing popularity of in-game purchases and digital game sales. These days, it’s more about building a strong online platform and engaged player base than simply selling a lot of consoles.

It’s definitely something to think about: will the PS5 ultimately outsell the PS4? And given the challenges PlayStation has faced in the last five years, along with the current global economic climate, does the PS5 deserve recognition just for being a contender in the market?

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2026-04-02 21:07