Over 40 Million PS4 Consoles Have Been Sold Around The World, With Another 20 Million On The Way

Sony's PS4 has thoroughly conquered the current generation console wars. It hasn't been much of a contest with Nintendo's Wii U failing to capture the same magic as the Nintendo Wii while Microsoft's Xbox One stumbled out of the gate with a high price and announcement details that alienated players. Sony announced Thursday over 40 million PS4 units have been sold since its November 2013 launch. It's the fastest-selling PlayStation ever with the Japanese electronics giant forecasting 60 million consoles sold by April 2017.

"We will strive to deliver even more exciting gaming experiences to our users, further driving the momentum and accelerating the expansion of the PS4 platform and its business this fiscal year by offering an unparalleled line-up of games, bringing our virtual reality system, PlayStation VR, to market," Andrew House, president and global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement. Sony also revealed more than 270.9 million PS4 games have been sold in stores or through digital downloads.

It was only a matter of time before the PS4 crossed the 40 million mark based on Sony's previous announcements. Unlike Microsoft, which has not released up-to-date figures for Xbox One units sold, Sony has sent out regular press releases revealing new milestones. Sony reported 17.7 million PS4 consoles were sold for its year that ended March 31.

Sony forecasted an 8.3 percent increase in PS4 sales for its fiscal year 2016 based on the strength of its upcoming slate of exclusive titles and the release of the PlayStation VR. "We expect unit sales of PlayStation 4 for the fiscal year to be 20 million units. The historical high for annual PlayStation production shipments was 22.52 million units of PlayStation2 in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003," the company wrote in a presentation slide. To date, the PS4 is outpacing the PS2, but it still has a long way to go to surpass the over 155 million consoles sold by its predecessor.

Sony's slate of games for 2016 includes "No Man's Sky," "The Last Guardian," "Horizon: Zero Dawn," "Gran Turismo Sport" and "Paragon." The recently released "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" sold over 2.7 million copies in its first week. The global launch of the PlayStation VR in October will also help drive PS4 sales. The rumored Sony NEO — a console refresh that includes 4K, ultra HD support, but won't feature exclusive games — was not mentioned by Sony, but details could emerge during the company's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) presentation in June.