Sony's PlayStation 4 tops 40 million units sold

It's sometimes surprising to hear how well the PlayStation 4 is performing this console generation when remembering how difficult things were for the PS3 several years ago. The latest word from Sony is that the PS4 has just hit the milestone of selling 40 million units. That's less than a year since hitting the 30 million mark, and less than six months after topping 35 million, making the PS4 Sony's fastest-selling console in its history.

The Xbox One, meanwhile, has struggled to keep up with the Xbox 360's sales from last generation. Microsoft stopped revealing hardware sales numbers some time ago, but a recent estimate from publisher EA put the Xbox One at around 20 million units sold in February. If accurate, that means it trails Sony's lead by two-to-one.

With E3 just a few short weeks away, rumors have been building about both the PS4 and Xbox One seeing upgraded versions announced. The former, which has been codenamed "Neo" is believed to support better graphics and integrate with the upcoming PS VR headset, while reports on the latter say the hardware will be getting slimmed down.

As for Sony, they remain ambitious about PS4 sales, predicting the current financial year, which will end in March 2017, will see another 20 million consoles sold. A new version of the console and the release of PS VR, the cheapest consumer virtual reality headset, will certainly help Sony reach that goal.

SOURCE Sony