Today, during its Q2 2023 earnings report, Sony revealed that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has sold five million units in the first eleven days it’s been on the market (from the launch date of October 20 to the end of the quarter, which is on October 30).
The news follows the earlier announcement that the game sold 2.5 million units on the first day. At the time, Sony boasted that it was the fastest-selling game made by a PlayStation Studio.
However, there were two caveats to that. Firstly, that number included sales of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 console bundle. Secondly, other PlayStation Studio games previously sold nearly as much (or even more) in a slightly different timeframe.
Luckily, Sony provided a detailed table showing various sales milestones of key first-party PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games. As we can see below, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II sold 4 million units in the first three days on the market. Moreover, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarök sold 5.1 million units in just five days, though that game could also exploit the vast PlayStation 4 userbase, unlike the new Spider-Man title.
| Title | Platform | Release Date (in the U.S.) | Number of global cumulative sell-through units (million) | As of (Number of Days in Release) |
| Bloodborne | PlayStation®4 | 3/26/2015 | 1.0 | 4/5/2015 (11) |
| Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End | PlayStation®4 | 05/10/2016 | 2.7 | 5/16/2016 (7) |
| 8.7 | 12/21/2016 (226) | |||
| Horizon Zero Dawn | PlayStation®4 | 2/28/2017 | 2.6 | 3/13/2017 (14) |
| 7.6 | 2/15/2018 (353) | |||
| 10.0 | 12/31/2018 (672) | |||
| 20.0 | 11/28/2021 (1,734) | |||
| GOD OF WAR | PlayStation®4 | 4/20/2018 | 3.1 | 4/22/2018 (3) |
| 5.0 | 5/20/2018 (31) | |||
| 19.5 | 8/21/2021 (1,220) | |||
| 23.0 | 11/1/2022 (1,656) | |||
| Detroit: Become Human | PlayStation®4 | 5/25/2018 | 2.0 | 12/12/2018 (202) |
| 3.2 | 8/31/2019 (464) | |||
| Marvel’s Spider-Man | PlayStation®4 | 09/07/2018 | 3.3 | 9/9/2018 (3) |
| 9.0 | 11/25/2018 (80) | |||
| 13.2 | 7/28/2019 (325) | |||
| The Last of Us Part II | PlayStation®4 | 6/19/2020 | 4.0 | 6/21/2020 (3) |
| Ghost of Tsushima | PlayStation®4 | 7/17/2020 | 2.4 | 7/19/2020 (3) |
| 5.0 | 11/11/2020 (118) | |||
| Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut | PlayStation®5 | 8/20/2021 | 6.5 | 3/22/2021 (249) |
| 8.0 | 10/10/2021 (-) | |||
| Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | PlayStation®4 PlayStation®5 | 11/12/2020 | 6.5 | 7/18/2021 (249) |
| Demon’s Souls | PlayStation®5 | 11/12/2020 | 1.4 | 9/19/2021 (312) |
| Returnal | PlayStation®5 | 4/30/2021 | 0.56 | 7/18/2021 (80) |
| Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart | PlayStation®5 | 06/11/2021 | 1.1 | 7/18/2021 (38) |
| God of War Ragnarök | PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5 | 11/09/2022 | 5.1 | 11/13/2022 (5) |
| 11.0 | 1/22/2023 (75) | |||
| Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | PlayStation®5 | 10/20/2023 | 2.5 | 10/20/2023 (1) |
| 5.0 | 10/30/2023 (11) |
Still, there’s no denying that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is among the fastest-selling games made by first-party PlayStation Studios. Its success is largely deserved, as I wrote in my review of the game:
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 feels like the perfect, albeit safe, evolution of the formula first introduced with the 2018 game. With a highly emotional story, much-improved traversal, great visuals and performance, and industry-leading accessibility, this sequel is very likely to win over most fans of the original. However, a bigger shake-up may be needed for the inevitable Spider-Man 3.
On another note, Sony also provided an update on the PlayStation 5 console hardware sales. 4.9 million units were sold during the last quarter, a 1.6 million increase compared to Q2 2022. Overall, there are 46.9 million units out there, while monthly active users (MAUs) on the PlayStation Network dropped from 108 to 107 compared to the previous quarter.
