PS5 vs PS3 Sales Comparison - May 2021 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 July 2021 / 3,077 Views
The VGChartz sales comparison series of articles are updated monthly and each one focuses on a different sales comparison using our estimated video game hardware figures. The charts include comparisons between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as with older platforms. There are articles based on our worldwide estimates, as well as the US, Europe, and Japan.
This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 3.
The PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020, while the PlayStation 3 launched in November 2006 in North America and Japan and in March 2007 in Europe. This does mean the holiday periods for the two consoles do lineup.
PS5 Vs. PS3 Worldwide:
Gap change in latest month: 578,662 - PS5
Total Lead: 5,286,066 - PS5
PlayStation 5 Total Sales 8,800,474
PlayStation 3 Total Sales: 3,514,408
May 2021 is the seventh month the PlayStation 5 has been available for. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the PlayStation 5 when compared to the aligned launch of the PlayStation 3 by 578,662 units. The PlayStation 5 is currently ahead by 5.29 million units.
The PlayStation 5 has sold 8.80 million units in seven months, while the PlayStation 3 sold 3.51 million units. Month seven for the PlayStation 5 is May 2021 and for the PlayStation 4 is May 2007.
The PlayStation 3 did not reach current PlayStation 5 sales until month 14 where it had sold 9.17 million units.
The PlayStation 3 crossed 10 million units sold in month 15, 20 million in month 27, and 30 million in month 38. The PlayStation 3 sold 87.4 million units lifetime.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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The PS3 was an odd console and an odd misstep for the PlayStation brand. It's a bit shocking to see just how slowly it sold compared to PS4 or PS5. It still gave us some great games like Valkyria Chronicles and Ni no Kuni. And the PS5 still cost $100 less than the PS3 did, without adjusting for inflation.
The PlayStation 3 will likely never have chance of being above the PS5. PS5 just has too much momentum, unless the bottom just falls out from under it. Something I don't see happening with Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, Spiderman 2 and many more coming.
That could look like making sense early on, but after year 3 there's no chance that the PS5 can keep up anymore as from then on both the PS3 and 360 sell more and more each year.
I doubt that this gen will have the legs to sell that well. Playstation + Xbox, taken together, always ended up somewhere around 175M total. While I expect that number to rise a bit, with the increased sales of Xbox sales I think that both will have relatively short legs and peak earlier than previous generations.
