Sony, hindering game sales: 2.4 million PS5 sold in three months

Sony has sold 2.4 million PlayStation 5 in the last quarter (the first of Sony’s fiscal year), an improvement of 100,000 units compared to 2.3 million in the same period of 2021 and 400,000 units compared to the previous three months. The console of the latest generation, therefore, achieves total sales of 21.7 million units from debut to June 30th.

Sony plans to sell 18 million PlayStation 5s in the current financial year. “The supply has not been enough … the demand has not decreased. We really need to meet the demand, this is the important thing to do,” said CFO Hiroki Totoki. To achieve the goal, Sony will have to increase the number of consoles sold in the coming quarters to over 5 million. The company hasn’t released any information on PS4, so the figure remains at 117 million units since launch.

However, the most striking – negatively – are game sales, down 26% from last year: we talk about 47.1 against 63.6 million. First-party stocks reached 6.4 million units in the quarter, down from 10.5 million a year ago. Well instead the digital sales, which rise to 79% of the total scoring a + 11%.

For these numbers the Japanese company has blamed the absence of great titles and the shorter time people spend in gaminga figure supported by the number of monthly active users on the PlayStation Network, which fell to 102 million compared to 105 million a year. The number of PlayStation Plus users rose to 47.3 million from 46.3 million last yearwhile it fell if we think of the 47.4 million of the previous three months.

The division Game & Network Services of the Japanese company reported a turnover of 604.1 billion yen, down 11.7% on an annual basis. The operating profit stopped at 52.8 billion yen, a figure in contraction of 30.5%. Sharply declining game sales and investments in first-party development weighed on the accounts.

Sony has revised its annual operating earnings forecast lowering it by 16%, from 305 to 255 billion yen, for the gaming business. In addition to game sales below previous estimates, the costs associated with the acquisition of Bungie, which ended earlier than expected, also weighed.