Sony Sells 1 Million PS4 Consoles In First Day

Sony has sold one million PS4 consoles in its first day of availability, the company announced Sunday.

By comparison, the PS3 sold a little more than 81,000 units within its first 24 hours of availability in Japan in 2006. In the first two weeks, only 197,000 PS3 units were sold due to a supply shortage.

The PS4 launched in North America on November 15, and will become available in Europe on November 29. The console launches in Japan on February 22, 2014.

Prior to the launch, Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton predicted that three million PS4 consoles will be sold by the end of the year. Tretton also said he believes that more than five million units will be sold by March 2014. According to Joystiq, the PS4 will launch in 32 countries by the end of the year.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint, but getting out to a nice start is a good thing,” Tretton said. “That hurdle has been cleared. We’re very, very confident we’re in great shape.”

However, the system launch hasn’t been without its issues. Some gamers reported problems with the HDMI connection, calling it the “blue ring of death.” The name is taken from an overheating problem with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 dubbed the “red ring of death,” where the console would display three red lights around the power button.

Sony spokesman Dan Race said the company believes the blue ring of death has only affected a small percentage of units sold.

“This is within our expectations for a new product introduction, and the vast majority of PS4 feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” Race said. “We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and represent a very small percentage of total units shipped to consumers to date.”

About one percent of PS4 consoles have been affected by the blue ring of death.