PS5 Tops 70M Lifetime - Worldwide Hardware Estimates for December 2024 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 24 January 2025 / 19,278 Views
The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console worldwide with 3.42 million units sold for December 2024, according to VGChartz estimates. The PlayStation 5 has now sold an estimated 71.03 million units lifetime worldwide.
The Nintendo Switch sold an estimated 2.69 million units to bring its lifetime sales to 148.79 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 0.97 million units to bring their lifetime sales to 32.17 million units. The PlayStation 4 sold an estimated 5,163 units to bring its lifetime sales to 117.20 million units.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2017 are down by nearly 0.49 million units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are down by nearly 1.53 million units. PS4 sold 3.91 million units for the month of December 2017 and Xbox One sales were at 2.50 million units.
PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 306,486 (-8.2%). Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 881,070 units (-47.6%) and Nintendo Switch sales are down by 813,519 units (-23.2%). The PlayStation 4 is down by 23,077 units (-81.7%) year-over-year.
Looking at sales month-on-month, PlayStation 5 sales are up down by over 0.62 million units, Xbox Series X|S sales are up by nearly 0.22 million units, and Nintendo Switch sales are up by over 0.95 million units.
2024 year-to-date, the PlayStation 5 has sold an estimated 18.65 million units, the Nintendo Switch has sold 12.05 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 4.97 million units.
Monthly Sales:
Global hardware estimates for December 2024 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- PlayStation 5 - 3,420,446 (71,032,170)
- Switch - 2,689,185 (148,790,269)
- Xbox Series X|S - 971,492 (32,169,659)
- PlayStation 4 - 5,163 (117,200,071)
- PlayStation 5 - 1,621,700
- Switch - 981,451
- Xbox Series X|S - 705,759
- PlayStation 4 - 2,437
- PlayStation 5 - 1,177,618
- Switch - 915,088
- Xbox Series X|S - 171,726
- PlayStation 4 - 1,975
- Switch - 709,602
- PlayStation 5 - 483,856
- Xbox Series X|S - 33,609
- PlayStation 4 - 561
- PlayStation 5 - 137,272
- Switch - 83,044
- Xbox Series X|S - 60,398
- PlayStation 4 - 190
Weekly Sales:
Global December 7, 2024 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 845,971
- Switch - 624,542
- Xbox Series X|S - 259,918
- PlayStation 4 - 1,379
Global December 14, 2024 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 686,427
- Switch - 546,584
- Xbox Series X|S - 197,230
- PlayStation 4 - 1,077
Global December 21, 2024 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 799,549
- Switch - 625,721
- Xbox Series X|S - 218,331
- PlayStation 4 - 1,130
Global December 28, 2024 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 667,993
- Switch - 531,237
- Xbox Series X|S - 189,201
- PlayStation 4 - 929
Global January 4, 2025 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 420,506
- Switch - 361,101
- Xbox Series X|S - 106,812
- PlayStation 4 - 648
VGChartz Methodology: Hardware estimates are based on retail sampling and trends in individual countries, which are then extrapolated to represent the wider region. This typically allows us to produce figures that end up being within 10% of the actual totals.
This data is regularly compared against official shipment figures released by the console manufacturers and figures estimated by regional trackers with greater market coverage than ourselves. We then update our own estimates to bring them into line with those figures. This can result in frequent changes often within a short space of time, but we feel it's important to prioritise accuracy over consistency.
Note that our estimates are based on sell-through data (units sold to consumers). In almost all cases the figures released by console manufacturers are based on shipment data (sell-in), where as soon as a device has left the factory and entered the supply chain for delivery it is considered a sale. This is why there is always a difference between the companies’ figures (sell-in) and VGChartz estimates (sell-through), even after we’ve made adjustments. The one exception to that is when a console has been discontinued and the remaining stock has finally sold out – at that point the figures will match.
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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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Those Xbox Series vs Xbox One number are rough...
Weaker sales figures than Wii U…ouch. I’m not sure how Xbox can go another gen unless Microsoft rlly shakes up their strategy. :/
the only thing that i could see helping xbox is a 1-year GTA6 exclusive which will never happen...................................
I can't even imagine how many billions that would cost them to do that
Won't happen. I think you are overestimating GTA VI. It will be a record selling game. Software sales will be from another world but today (i know many people hate it and even i as a PC hater admid it), many moved to PC. And people won't buy all highend PCs the Day GTA VI comes out. But their GPUs are 4- 5 years or older. Tey are dated. People will renew them. That is what will steal a lot from Xbox and also PS5.
Its so sweet: If you say something negative about the PS5 you get downvotes. Its like in autocratic countries: You say something against the system, you get discriminated!🤣
Wii U was super bad, where do you get these numbers that the Xseries is trailing the Wii U?
I’m looking at the holiday quarters of 2013/2014/2015 figures provided by VGChartz. Wii U would see a bigger December (around 1.2-1.3mil), though a substantially smaller November (600-700k) and October (not sure what these figures are). Places Wii U and XBSXS neck-and-neck for the holiday quarter.
gotcha
The fact that the difference between the PS5 and Switch is less than a million is insane. The Switch is indeed the greatest console ever.
That does not show weakness of the PS5 but how strong the Switch is. PS5 past its peak last year and its first half of its life (according to Sony). Of cours after 3 years you start slowing down a bit...
Switch, PS1, PS2, and DS were all sales monsters. Coincidentally they were all "weak" consoles.
Switch lead over PS5- 77.76M
PS4 lead over PS5- 46.17M
PS5 lead over xbox- 38.86M
This is what happens when you have no sales (Microsoft). The fact the Switch still sold this much is incredible.
With those sales I estimate in their 4th Feb financial report Nintendo will say that as of 31st Dec 24 they've shipped about 151 million Switchs. If so, then i think the year end report early May 25 will say that as of 31st March it has shipped about 153 mill just missing the DS sales. Then come the August 25 sales report it'll say the Switch has outsold the DS with around 155 million shipped. That'll leave 5.8 mill to conclusively outsell PS2. That be possible by Holiday 2026
The last shipments for Q4, Q1 and Q2 worldwide are 1.96M, 2.1M and 2.62M. Even with a 50% drop from those the DS should be outshipped by the end of Q2. We'll have to see if the Switch 2 announcement has done anything and if the April showcase will too.
If you mean calendar year q2 then that'd be Apr to Jun which would align with what I said lol. The August 25 report covers April to June and that's the period I expect Switch to outship the DS. It all depends on how much they shipped by 31st Dec 24. If it's about 151 then they aren't gonna outship DS by the year end report in May (covering Jan to March sales) and it will be within the next quarter reported in August.
I meant the Nintendo's fiscal calendar that starts in April, their Q1 is Apr-Jun. What I said was that by having 151M by December's end, then on Q4 (Jan-Mar) having 0.98, then 1.05 for Q1 (Apr-Jun) and finally 1.3 for Q2 (Jul-Sep) is enough to beat DS. All of this to say that even with a pessimistic approach it still beats it with ease.
Cool. Then we're not in disagreement then.
The DS is cooked! Nothing can stop the Switch from beating it, expect there would be Apophis, Bennu, WW3, the chinese attacking Taiwan and the russians attacking whole europe all together. But nothing of this will happen! Where is this guy that uses imageflip for his crimson knocking on DS's door?
7.5 million PS5s sold in November and December, amazing! Surely PS5 PRO has contributed significantly. On the other hand Nintendo Switch is doing very well and Xbox is a pity, only the American market saves it.
i like to think that Astro is the reason for PS5’s solid holiday figures…even if ik this is absolutely not the case lol. One of the best games Sony has put out in the past decade.
This paragraph makes no sense:
"PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2017 are up by nearly 0.49 million units [...] PS4 sold 3.91 million units for the month of November 2017..."
Why November and why is PS5 up if it sold less than PS4? Classic copy-paste mistake ^^ At least we know now that it's copied from the November article :D
Another one: "Nintendo Switch sales are up by over 0.95 units." Not one single unit more?? LOL At least I read your article, Trunks. You need more coffee... ;-)
71 million PS5s sold, it will soon surpass the 3DS. I believe it could surpass the PS3 by the end of the year. Switch reaching 150 million, Xbox a little below but should still finish sales between 45 and 50 million.
Didn't people complain the PS5 has no games? And yet here we are. 70M is crazy and maybe I'm just old but it feels like the damn thing just released.
Wow @those numbers. All 3 being down YoY means the sucessors of PS5 and XboxSX/SS probably need to come earlier than expected... As PS4 has reached its total LTD sales will tracking get stopped?
Not necessarily, once GTA6 is out (i'm not a fan lol but I understand what that game means to the world) a lot of people who were waiting will finally buy a PS5 and that boost in sales that could happen either this year or in 2026 could expand the PS5 life at least until the end of 2027 that is the projected release timeframe for the next console.
I could say the same with Pokémon or Mario Kart. Both are incredible sellers. How much do you expect Xbox and PS5 to sell in GTAVI launch week? I will get the game on my series X of course.
You can say the same of Pokémon and Mario Kart because they already did it lol. The Swith is a 8 years old console, they did their job, now Nintendo priorities should be people buying a Switch 2.
Now, I don't have the data to say how much it will sell but at least I know one person who is waiting for a GTA6-PS5 bundle since 2023 and I'm not special lol so I'm sure a lot more people know people like that. It shouldn't be underestimated how much these "once in a generation" events can affect in sales. Wukong made PS5s fly from stores in China, GTA can have the same effect in the rest of the world. That would be enough push to keep the console 7 years like the ps4.
Xbox is a different case because there are already rumors of MS thinking about launching their next xbox before the next ps to recreate a 360-ps3 situation so I wouldn't be surprised if they do it but I have no idea if it will work lol.
GTAVI will do (close to) nothing for Xbox and it will pump PS5 sales no doubt but it won't do crazy things like a million per week for a few months what some people are expecting. I remember 2009 where people said Modern Warfare
2 would become the best selling game of all time (yes better than Wii Sports!!) and a small 2D plattformer outsold it on all plattforms combined (New Super Mario Bros Wii.) So we should rrally take care when we predict crazy stuff.
Remember Rockstar was talking about how they want to launch on PC first and then consoles 6 months later. So 2025 won’t be a GTA boost for consoles. (I’ll have to update my estimates)
Rockstar said that? Sony will pay lots of money to stop this idea. Have to. If the game launches in PC 6 month before, many fanboys will not wait 6 months. NO WAY they will wait. They will buy a good laptop to play it.
Nobody will buy the PC just because a game launched earlier. Even if a Mario game launched on PC first (will never ever happen!!), i would not buy one. No matter wich game i would even wait 5 years longer just to play the game the way i like (Switch, PS5, Xbox) and most people would act like that.
No. It's false information. It's the other way around. Launch on Console first, then PC later like they have always done
yes, thanks.
Thank you, I must’ve gotten confused. I appreciate the information.
Think you've got that the wrong way round - they launch on consoles first then PC later.
Thanks, yes you are correct Console first then PC. I appreciate the correction unlike the others.
"2024 year-to-date, the PlayStation 5 has sold an estimated 18.65 million units, the Nintendo Switch has sold 12.05 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 4.97 million units."
This is wow.
PS5 seems on track exceeding its projected 18m units sold in its running fiscal year until end of March '25.
While the Series consoles seem to barely exceed the 5m treshold by the end of their running fiscal year until end of June '25, if the trend in decline year-on-year above the 40% marker continues.
Nintendo pulling 12mil is also pretty impressive! Lotta ppl in here (including myself) had expressed doubts over whether NSW could hit the 12.5mil fiscal target…looks to be that this might just be possible. Incredible for an 8yo system!! PS5 outdid my expectation of 15.5-17mil as well. Looks like a healthy market (outside of the crippled Xbox).
Isnt the 12 million reported for the calendar year? If so then it'll be very tight to hit 12.5 within the fiscal year march 24 to march 25
yep. (Hence, why I added “looks to be that this might just be possible.” since the fiscal year isn’t over…tho i coulda been a bit more explicit. My bad.) Q1C’24 was rather weak for NSW, so if Nintendo could at least match the 1.9mil(?) figure this current quarter, then they’ll pretty much be right at 12-12.5mil.
Remember: For the FISCAL YEAR you can only start counting at April 2024, not january 2024. But yes, 12,5 million seems totally doable...
yep…thats what my prev msg said, no?
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