The PS3 Has Just Been Beaten by Another Console
Nearly 6 years after its release, the PlayStation 5 has officially outsold the PlayStation 3. According to new data from Sony’s quarterly earnings report, which takes into account all sales between October 1 and December 31, 2025, the PlayStation 5 sold 8.1 million units during Q3 of fiscal year 2025, taking its total to 92.2 million units and surpassing the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 3, which is 87.4 million units. Despite an impressive Q3, the current-gen console has yet to surpass PlayStation 4’s impressive 117.2 million units.
Typically, the life cycle of PlayStation consoles lasts around 8 years, meaning the PS5 should be approaching its final few years before being succeeded by the next generation of consoles. However, the PS5 could be sticking around for longer than expected, as rumors and speculation of a delay to the PS6’s release date continue to circulate online. Late last year, Sony’s lead console architect, Mark Cerny, said the next PlayStation would release “in a few years,” but now analysts are saying that won’t be the case and it is likely to be “delayed longer than expected.” With an ongoing RAM crisis currently causing prices to skyrocket, many are now speculating that the PS6 won’t arrive until 2029 at the earliest. But that could be good news for the PS5, as an extension to its lifecycle will probably see sales figures continue to climb.
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Sony Releases Updated PS5 Sales Figures
On February 5, 2026, Sony shared its new financial report for Q3 of fiscal year 2025, which spans between October 1 and December 31. According to the report, which was analyzed and broken down by VGC, the PlayStation 5 has achieved another sales record, now surpassing the PlayStation 3’s lifetime sales. During the final three months of 2025, Sony sold 8.1 million PlayStation 5’s, taking its total figure up to 92.2 million units. For comparison, the PlayStation 4 sold just 0.1 million more during the same period of its lifecycle. However, the last generation of PlayStation has yet to be beaten by the PS5, as the PS4 has sold around 117 million units to date.
While the PS5 has now overtaken the PS3’s 87.4 million units, it still has a ways to go before it surpasses the PS4’s current record, and even further to beat the best-selling video game console of all-time: the PlayStation 2. As of 2024, the PS2 has sold more than 160 million units, making it the current record holder, but not by much. The original Nintendo Switch, released in 2017, is in close second, with 155 million units sold to date.
Although hardware sales were 0.9 million lower than in the same period in 2024, Sony says its PlayStation Store software sales reached a record high in Q3 2025. New releases such as Battlefield 6, which was the best-selling video game of last year, as well as NBA 2K26, Borderlands 4, and Monster Hunter Wilds, are likely to be the driving factors behind this achievement. Sony also says that Ghost of Yotei, the sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, was also a “significant” factor. The company also says Yotei outperformed Tsushima during the same period.
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The upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6, which Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently reaffirmed for November 19, is also likely to boost PlayStation 5 sales. Industry insiders have claimed that Sony is treating the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, even though it will also launch on Xbox Series X/S simultaneously. While the company has no known exclusivity rights to Grand Theft Auto 6, it has been suggested that it is being treated as such to avoid launching any other big first-party titles in the proximity of Rockstar’s next game. Although Grand Theft Auto 6 will also be available on Xbox, many expect it to be a huge seller for PlayStation 5 consoles when it launches later this year.