The nephew of a Sony founder on Monday started as head of a regional gaming unit, after the Japanese electronics giant sailed past the 10 million mark in sales of its PlayStation 4.

Atsushi Morita, 54, will run Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia (SCEJA), a unit of Sony Computer Entertainment which develops the popular gaming console.

Morita, a nephew of Sony co-founder Akio Morita, said he was aiming to help continue the latest PlayStation's blazing success.

The console was only released in the US and Europe in November, and in its home market in February.

"PlayStation 4's global sales hit the 10 million mark last month, the fastest pace for any of our past hardware," he told a press briefing in Tokyo.

"I will boost the industry in Japan further with game users as well as creators and business partners."

Sony is winning the console wars for the first time in nearly a decade, offering a rare bright spot on the company's otherwise troubled balance sheet.

Stellar sales of the new PlayStation 4 gave it a huge leg up over rival Nintendo, which has dominated the console market for eight years.

Sony Computer Entertainment sold more than 18.7 million consoles worldwide in the business year to March 31, against Nintendo's official sales figure of 16.3 million units.