Like Xbox One, there is no backward compatibility, but if you own some PS3 games you can pay a small fee to download the PS4 version. Sony has also hinted that retro gaming will be available via its Gaikai streaming service in 2014.

TECH | 12/03/2013 @ 8:41AM |15,842 views

Sony Reveals 2.1 Million Global PS4 Sales

Sony has a hit on their hands, and they’re going to brag about it. We knew that the PS4 sold a million units in its first 24 hours, but what about in the weeks since? The system has now launched globally, and yesterday we got our first look at how fast it’s moving in the UK.

Now, Sony is sharing worldwide sales numbers for the first time, saying that the PlayStation 4 has sold 2.1 million systems since launch.

Andrew House took to Sony’s blog to discuss the accomplishment, and thank fans and employees alike:

“It’s an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn’t have done it without you. I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible lineup of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead.”

Again, this has to be put in proper context. The gaming industry moves millions of its various products, all the time, right? True, but this is a new console we’re talking about, and these numbers are without equal in the history of gaming. Last generation, for example, it took two months for Sony to even ship a million PS3s, much less sell them. To compare it to the current generation, Nintendo's Wii U has sold 3.91M units total since its launch last fall. Sony has done over half that in three weeks.

Now we’ll have to wait and see if Microsoft MSFT -0.49% comes out with their own announcement. Though the Xbox One also sold a million units in 24 hours after launch, it seems likely that the system won’t outpace the PS4 worldwide due to its higher price and many other countries’ general preference for Sony. Xbox has always been a leader in the US, but it usually trails PlayStation in the rest of the world, especially in populous gaming havens like Asia.

I don’t expect we’ll see hard numbers from Xbox for a little while. If Microsoft announces sales figures that are in any way lower than Sony’s, all the headlines will be “PS4 Outsells Xbox One!” no matter how record setting the numbers would have been otherwise. Microsoft probably doesn’t want to read that headline for as long as possible, or they’ll come out with one of their own boasting about 3 million unit shipped, or something like that.

The PS4 likely is outselling the Xbox One, but both systems are doing so well, that’s not really meaningful criticism of Microsoft at this point. The next console generation will likely last the better part of ten years, and a lot can happen during that time. I will say that I’m still not convinced it was worth packaging the One with Kinect at the cost of a $100 price increase. Despite advancements in the technology, the Kinect still has the problem of not being perfect (which a device with gesture and voice controls needs to avoid being frustrating) and not having worthwhile games other than dancing and fitness titles. See reviews of The Fighter Within to understand how limited games still are when they’re Kinect exclusive.

That $100 would have helped Microsoft move more units, more so than whatever experiences Kinect is offering. But there’s always the potential for the device to finally prove its worth, and it has to be said that it’s improved with time.

But being cheaper and having better press at launch has served Sony well, and 2.1M systems sold globally in just three weeks is stunning, and should indeed be celebrated. It shows how far they’ve come from the disastrous launch of the PS3, and that they’ve learned from their past mistakes.

Update: Just spoke with Microsoft who offered this statement from Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Xbox:

“We are humbled and gratified by the overwhelming response from our fans to the launch of Xbox One. Eleven days in we are seeing record breaking sales and are selling every Xbox One we can make. Demand is far exceeding supply in the 13 countries we’ve launched and we are sold out at retailers around the world. We are seeing incredible usage from our engaged fans who have purchased Xbox One with more than 50 million hours spent on Xbox One games and entertainment.”

Interesting. This is contrary to a few overseas readers I’ve heard who say that Xbox Ones are able to be found on store shelves, but that’s admittedly anecdotal. And as I said, if they were under the 2.1M mark, they probably wouldn’t release any numbers, and sure enough…here we are. I don’t count ”50 million hours spent playing” as any sort of meaningful figure.

Again, the Xbox One is probably close to two million in sales, which is incredibly impressive in its own right, but if they came in behind Sony, Microsoft doesn’t really want that headline out there.