Sony has taken the top spot in console sales from Nintendo for the first time in eight years.
Sony sold 18.7 million gaming machines in the last financial year, compared to Nintendo, which sold 16.3 million machines, according to CNET. The fiscal year ended on March 31st.
The news marks the first time that Sony has been the top seller of consoles since Nintendo came out with the Wii in 2006.
The numbers were first reported by Nikkei, a business news site in Japan. While Sony's PlayStation 4 has become the bestselling "new-gen" console, demand for Nintendo's Wii U has dropped to lower than that of the original Wii. The report also shows sales of the PS3 and first Wii, along with the PlayStation Vita handhelds from Sony and the 3DS from Nintendo, BBC News reported.
Sony and Nintendo, along with console rival Microsoft, will be announcing new games at the E3 video games expo in Los Angeles. Nintendo is renting a large amount of floor space at the event, which includes an area to be used for a tournament to promote its new fighting game Super Smash Bros 4. The game is scheduled to be released later this year on the Wii U and 3DS.
"It's a title you have to keep your eye on as it's an epic franchise," said Lewis Ward, a video games analyst at the IDC consultancy.
"But it's going too far to say it will turn around Nintendo's fortunes. By my projections for the Wii U will remain in third place," he added, referring to the PS4 and Xbox One.
It is difficult to compare Microsoft's sales for its Xbox One to the consoles of Sony and Nintendo because Microsoft is in a different fiscal calendar, CNET reported. Unlike the two other gaming companies, Microsoft does not have a handheld gaming system. The Xbox One, like the PS4, will be released later this year. It has not be released in Japan yet.
The E3 video game trade show begins today, June 9th.
