PS5 on track to overtake the PS2 and become Sony's "most successful console yet"

The PS5 is on track to become Sony's "most successful console yet."

That's according to Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida, speaking yesterday, September 28, as part of a blog post announcing PlayStation head Jim Ryan's retirement. Ryan is set to retire in Spring 2024, after nearly 30 years at Sony, and current Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki will succeed Ryan in an interim CEO role.

"Jim Ryan has been an inspirational leader throughout his entire period with us, but never more so than in overseeing the launch of PlayStation 5 in the midst of the global COVID pandemic," Yoshida writes. "That extraordinary achievement made by the entire SIE team has been steadily built on and PlayStation 5 is on track to become SIE's most successful console yet."

It was the global COVID pandemic that made the PS5's first few years on the market pretty difficult - the new-gen console was nearly always hard to find, and supply was constantly being outpaced by demand in regions around the world. That didn't stop the PS5 from becoming Sony's fastest-selling console ever back in 2021, crossing 10 million units sold in under nine months.

Shortly before the PS5 launched in late 2020, it was Totoki who said the PS5's lifetime sales goal was 100 million units. As of April earlier this year, the PS5 had sold 38.5 million units around the world, and considering Yoshida's positive new comments, it seems like the PS5 could well be poised to break that 100 million lifetime sales milestone, a few years down the road.

You can read our upcoming PS5 games guide for a look ahead at all the console exclusives coming to the new-gen machine, later this year and beyond.