Sony Quarterly Reports Confirm PS5’s Most Annoying Game Release Trend Will Continue

According to Sony’s quarterly results, which were released tonight, third-party games increased operating profits by 2.8 times during the quarter when compared to the same period last year. Among the popular games was Astro Bot, which made its PlayStation 5 debut on September 6 and sold 1.5 million copies.

Helldivers 2, released on February 8 by third-party developer Arrowhead Game Studios, has sold 12 million copies on the PC and PS5 so far this year. However, there was one game for which Sony might continue their annoying trend of releasing older games in a new package.

Ghost of Tushima Director’s Cut Sold 9.7 Million Copies

According to Sony’s quarterly earnings report, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut has sold 9.7 million copies on the PS5 and the PC since its debut on May 16. That means there are higher chances Sony will continue to follow this trend. In the future, we are going to see more ‘Director’s Cut’ versions of many games.

However, these Director’s Cut versions are nothing revolutionary as compared to the base games, just some tweaks in the mechanics along with a few more cutscenes and slightly better graphics. On October 31, 2024, we also saw Horizon Zero Dawn take another entry to PS5, but this time as a ‘remastered version.’

Actually, the gaming industry is right now in heavy turmoil, as developers are seriously lacking innovation. Sony was completely failing in the live-service department too, the recent example being Concord. So they have posed a new measure: to re-release almost similar games with some minor tweaks to stay relevant in the market. And also, the company has a huge library to thrust this trend for at least a decade.

Sony’s Q2 Game/Network Service Sales Rise 12% to $7.01B

For the second fiscal quarter that ended on September 30, Sony reported that its game and network services division had sales of 1,071.5 billion yen ($7.01 billion), a 12% increase over the same period last year.

The G&NS division’s operating income increased 2.8 times from the previous year to 138.8 billion yen ($908 million). Sales of third-party games account for a large portion of the improvement.

Sony claimed that improved foreign exchange rates, a rise in network service sales, including its PlayStation Plus online service, and an increase in sales of third-party game software were the main reasons for the growth in sales. A decline in hardware sales countered this. Increases in network service sales, third-party software sales, and hardware profitability all contributed to an increase in operating income.

In the fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2025, Sony now projects that its game and network services division will reach 4,490 billion yen ($29.3 billion). Compared to the August forecast of 4,320 billion yen ($28.2 billion), that is more optimistic. Additionally, a 35 billion yen increase in operating income is anticipated for the division’s fiscal year.