PS5 Hardware Sales Are On The Decline, But Sony Is Still Looking Healthy

Sony’s latest financial results for the Q1 period of its 2024 financial year–April 1 to June 30–are in, and the company has revealed that the PS5 has reached 61.7 million lifetime sales so far. In this quarter, 2.4 million PS5 consoles were sold, a figure that’s down by 27% when compared to the 3.3 million PS5 consoles sold during the same period in the previous financial year.

Overall, Sony says Q1 sales in its Games and Network Services section were still up 12% year-on-year, resulting in a 32% increase in operating income. The company added that first-party sales and PlayStation Plus subscriptions grew, with 80% of the 53.6 million PS5 games sold in Q1 being digital purchases. Software sales brought in $3.30 billion in revenue, almost 20% growth year-on-year, but hardware revenue did decline by 21% to $990 million.

Sony also reported 116 million registered monthly active users, an increase when compared to 108 million last year but a decrease from Q4 FY23’s 118 million. Looking ahead, Sony has a relatively quiet year when it comes to first-party games. Multiplayer game Concord launches later this month and an Astro Bot sequel arrives on September 6, but beyond that, no new entries from major franchises like Spider-Man, God of War, The Last of Us, or Horizon are expected until April 2025 at the earliest.

There are several big third-party games scheduled to arrive later this year on PS5–Star Wars Outlaws, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and EA Sports FC 25, to name a few–and Sony has adjusted its forecast for the gaming division, predicting a 3% increase in sales and operating income for the 2024 financial year.