Sony has sold about 8.4 million Playstation 4 consoles in the quarter which ended on Dec 31 2015.

This is more in nine months of the current financial year than it sold in the previous financial year, when it shifted 14.8 million.

The company now expects to sell around 17.5 million PS4 consoles in the current financial year. During the third quarter, the Playstation franchise earned Sony 4.89 billion USD in sales.

At the start of the year, Sony had announced that it had sold around 36 million PS4 consoles till date.

According to EA, Microsoft has sold under just 20 million Xbox units.

Sony is proving a competitive rival for Microsoft in the console gaming industry.