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Sony PlayStation 4 sales top 2.1 million worldwide

Sony's PlayStation 4 console is off to a blockbuster start. 

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Reuters
Boxes containing Sony Playstation 4 consoles are pictured in advance of a special sale event put on by Sony at the Standard Hotel in New York, on Nov. 14.
  • By Matthew Shaer

Two weeks after launch, 2.1 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold worldwide, Sony announced today. 

The PS4, which is competing directly against Microsoft's Xbox One, is currently available in 32 markets, from North America to Europe. According to Chart-Track – hat tip to IGN – the device is the fastest-selling console in the history of the UK, topping the 2005 launch of the PlayStation Portable.

In a statement posted to the PlayStation blog, Sony exec Andrew House said 2012 was shaping up to be a "historic year for gamers."

"It’s an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn’t have done it without you," Mr. House wrote. "I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible lineup of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead." 

Priced at 100 bucks less than the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 has received high marks from critics, who have praised the raw computing power and smart design of the new Sony console. The only problem? A decided lack of great launch titles. The highly-anticipated open world game Watch Dogs, for instance, was recently pushed back to a 2014 debut, leaving a roster of game that are also available for the previous generation of consoles, from Call of Duty: Ghosts to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. 

"If you are a Sony fan you won't be disappointed in the PS4. You know and trust that everything will, eventually, get better," Stuart Miles and Mike Lowe of the tech blog Pocket-Lint wrote in a largely positive review late last month. "But for now you'll have to be patient, very patient, before the PS4 delivers the true knock-out that it can – and will – in the months and years to come." 

Sony had previously announced that it sold a million PlayStation 4 consoles in the first 24 hours the device was on sale. 

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