PlayStation 5 Is Fastest-Selling Console in U.S. History. Pretty Impressive, Considering They’re Fucking Unicorns!

Suppose there’s two ways to look at the PlayStation 5 being the fastest-selling console in U.S. history. In one way, I’m impressed, because supply has been so limited. In a second way, perhaps they feel so rare due to this limited supply because of how fast they’re selling. Right?

Gizmodo:

Sony’s PlayStation 5 is the fastest-selling gaming console in U.S. history in both unit and dollar sales, according to retail analyst firm The NPD Group. So if you’ve been struggling to get your hands on one since its release last November, scalpers may not be entirely to blame.

This success is particularly remarkable given Sony’s struggles to meet demand. Between a global chip shortage that’s bottlenecked supply chains and retailers running out of stock almost instantly, in part due to issues with scalpers and bots, buying a PS5 has become a nightmare.

As revealed by NPD Group executive director Mat Piscatella on Friday, the PS5 sold more units than any other console sold in its first five months in the U.S. Last month, he stated that the PS5 set the record for “the fastest selling hardware platform” in U.S. history in terms of total dollar sales.

Piscatella didn’t share exact sales figures, but he did note that consumer spending on video games has soared this year so far. In the first quarter of 2021, Americans spent $14.9 billion on gaming hardware, content, and accessories, a 30% jump compared to 2020’s first quarter. The Nintendo Switch is also doing extremely well, topping the charts as the best-selling console in both units and dollar sales in the month of March.