How come PS4 has sold so well?

Last month, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida told Eurogamer he did not ‘completely understand’ why PS4 has been such a big seller.

The console has shifted 10m units worldwide faster than any other console, and today has sold 1m machines in the UK – making it the second fastest selling home games console in UK history (data courtesy of GfK Chart-Track).

So we decided to put that question to the business side of PlayStation, namely both CEO Andrew House and UK MD Fergal Gara

"The killer apps are important, but again that range of content has proved to be what people have been looking for," says House.

"There was also, and I must confess I don’t have a great handle on this, a sense of really strong in-built pent-up demand that surprised us. I remember talking to one of the publishers before launch, and they were saying that there was this demand very firmly [that there was this demand]. You are obviously wary of wandering into that very optimistic view of the world, but it certainly proved to be the case. It was a very long lifecycle gap.

"And the other thing is that the shift in the dynamic has been the performance of the Wii U. Certainly when I look at Europe, that more causal and family audience has gravitated towards our platform. Whereas, when you think about the previous generation, they found a different destination."

Gara added: "First of all, I think we created a great machine and positioned it very well upfront. That all went fantastically, and the gaming community remember that. It wasn’t quite the same for others and therefore we got off to a great start.

"But even more importantly, when people have got that machine into their hands, it’s great. For me, a good example would be how we have focused on the gamer. From the moment you take PS4 out of the box and put in your brand new copy of any game you choose, your time to actually gaming is remarkably quick. Significantly faster than it was with PS3, and it compares extremely well with any competing device. So that is an example of where we are offering a great experience even on a multiplatform game."

He continues: "There were a few unforgettable moments. It goes back to February 22nd last year when we first unveiled the console and its concept. We were obviously focused on the gamer, but also hugely focused on the development community and doing the best we could by both of them. Also it was really poignant that Destiny was unveiled on the same stage on the same date, and now we have broken records in the same week, together. So there’s a nice little closed circle there I feel.

"But of course the really, really powerful moment was at E3 last year. I will never forget it. The emotion in the arena was way beyond our expectations. We hoped for positivity and we got it in spades.

"Gamescom was a key moment, probably not the most significant one. And then getting the launch away and it went so cleanly. The fact that the engineering team got a hugely reliable device out in the market in bigger volumes than we had forecasted earlier in the year… everybody involved in the launch played their part, and didn’t slip up. It was a dream to work with, whether it was my team or the great teams behind us."