In the recently published interview with Time, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe President and Global Sales chief Jim Ryan revealed that the PlayStation 4 is doubling the Xbox One in North America, and tripling them in Europe:
It’s been pleasing that in North America, we’ve been 2-to-1 against Xbox. But in Europe, it’s really been fortress PlayStation by at least 3-to-1 in unit sales.
If a recent estimate by EA is any indication, lifetime Xbox One sales were at 26 million at the end of 2016, while lifetime PS4 sales were at 53 million. The latest information from Sony this week shows that PS4 sales are now close to 60 million.
Sony Interactive Entertainment America President Shawn Layden, meanwhile, pointed to how console gaming has never been bigger in the United States:
All of the rumors of the demise of the console are very much premature. In fact ,if you’re watching NPD for PS4 and Xbox One sales, you put those together and console gaming has never been as big and vibrant as it is right now. And that’s just here in the States.
As for the other big console on the market, Layden think the Switch is a “great success for Nintendo,” but he doesn’t think it will negatively impact PS4 sales:
When you look at our numbers, I think it shows that a lot of gamers are a two-console family. And quite often those two consoles are PlayStation and Nintendo sitting side-by-side.
Ryan also touched on backwards compatibility again, mirroring his previous comments that it’s not something people use very much:
When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much. That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games, and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?
With these pre-E3 interviews out of the way, Layden says their E3 2017 press conference will have 90 seconds total of him, “and in the middle will be all the games.”
