Now that the launch day of the PS4 in the US and Canada is over, Sony has been running the numbers and they don’t disappoint. Shuhei Yoshida, the President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios has confirmed on Twitter that they have surpassed one million sales already. It was critical that Sony quenched sufficient appetite during launch to gain as much of a foothold ahead of its rival, and the PS4 isn’t slacking. Read on to find out more…You can check out his Tweet for yourself:

PS4 has sold through over 1 million units within 24 hours of the launch in North America!!! 😀

— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) November 17, 2013

The first launch phase targets US and Canada – a top-priority launch phase for Sony with a combined population of almost 350 million. This being a key and sizeable market demands an appropriately aggressive launch and marketing strategy. But it’s still interesting to see that Sony decided to start the launch here. Perhaps Sony calculates this region to have the toughest competition and moved its strongest ‘game’ here.

There is more to come. We are slightly less than two weeks away from the Latin American, Australian and European launch. In these regions combined, Sony is aiming at a population of more than a billion and it is imperative to get a good foothold. After this, the PS4 opens in targeted Asian countries, excluding Japan which has to wait until February.

Sony is targeting 3 million PS4 sales by Christmas and 5 million by the end of March. With 1 million sales in north America in just the first day, the immediate future is auspicious. However, no launch seems to happen without a ‘curved ball’; an unexpected challenge. The reports of misbehaving PS4s and PSN down-time need to be attended to quickly to put that behind and move confidently on to the next launch phase.

It was critical for Sony to make an impact with the first stop of the PS4 launch tour. Investors need to know that the past number of years of investment is going to pay off and that the company has bright years ahead of it. The board of management wants to know that Yoshida is the right man as Worldwide Studios President, that he and the rest of the team have made correct calculations and devised the right strategies. They will be watching these figures closely and surely can’t be disappointed with such a solid start.

Discuss:

Do you think Sony has had a good US/Canadian launch? Will they reach their targets?