Sony has claimed that global sales of its PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console have hit 50 million units since its launch around five years back.

Since its launch in November 2006, the PlayStation 3’s sales have gradually increased. The company shipped 3.5 million units of the console during the first year of its launch. The figure gradually jumped to 9.1 million, 10.1 million and 13 million in 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively.

However, it should be noted here that the figure are "sell-in numbers," which refers to the number of units Sony shipped to retailers, not to end-users.

Sony also announced that its PlayStation Network grew along with the PlayStation 3 console itself. PlayStation Network now claims to have more than 75 million registered accounts in around sixty countries around the world.

But, Sony's numbers could not outshine sales figures reported by rival firm Microsoft, which sold as many as 8 million units of the Xbox 360 Kinect hands-free system in just first two months after its launch in November.