PlayStation 3 sales hit 80 million

PlayStation 3 sales have hit the 80 million mark, Sony has announced.

That's as of 2nd November 2013.

PlayStation 3 launched in Japan on 11th November 2006 (it didn't launch in Europe until March 2007), making the console nearly seven years old.

Making its announcement today, Sony emphasised the third-party support the ageing console continues to receive, and revealed a whopping 4332 games have been released worldwide for it - excluding download games. Sony picked out Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, which sold 3.4 million copies in less than three weeks, and thatgamecompany's critically-acclaimed Journey for particular praise.

Sony said more than 300 games will be released from third-party developers and publishers as well as Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios "this holiday season", which sounds like a lot. In the small print, Sony said that's the total number of both Blu-ray disc and download versions that will be released from 1st November to 31st December 2013 in various regions. Included in the last is Polyphony Digital's racing game Gran Turismo 6 (the series has sold more than 70 million copies worldwide).

As for PlayStation Network, it currently has received more than 150 million cumulative registered accounts, as of 19th September 2013. There are more than 222,000 "digital content options" on the PlayStation Store, including 72,000 "game content", as of 31st October.

So, how does PlayStation 3 compare to its current generation competitors?

Last month Microsoft announced Xbox 360 has sold 80 million units worldwide. It should be noted that Microsoft's console launched a year before PS3, on 22nd November 2005.

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have been outsold by Nintendo's Wii, however, which has sold an incredible 100 million units worldwide since it launched on 19th November 2006.

Will PS3 eventually hit the 100 million sales mark? Possibly. But it seems unlikely to hit the sales high of its predecessor, the PlayStation 2, which has sold 155 million units worldwide, making it the best-selling console ever.