PS5 Sales Approach 40 Million After Stronger-Than-Expected 2022

Sony launched the PlayStation 5 in November 2020. But in the following months, many enthusiasts struggled to buy the latest gaming console. Fueled by the global semiconductor shortage and COVID-19 restrictions — and further worsened by scalpers hoarding the consoles — its scarcity has only helped increase the demand for the PS5. The most evident beneficiary of this shortage seems to be Sony, which posted record profits in the financial year 2022-23, driven by higher-than-expected sales of the PlayStation 5.

Sony recently made its earnings for the financial year ending in March 2023 public and revealed it managed to sell 19.1 million units during these twelve months, higher than its projections of selling 18 million units. To date, Sony has sold 38.4 million PS5 consoles.

Based on the earnings note, Sony made a total revenue of 11.54 trillion Japanese yen (approximately $84 billion) in the financial year ending March 2023. Of this, 3.64 trillion yen (~$26 billion), or about 31%, was posted by its Gaming and Network Services division, making it the biggest income source for the company during the year.

The Gaming and Network Services arm also gained roughly 33% in revenue over the previous fiscal. From January through March 2023, the PS5 accumulated record-high 6.3 million units in total sales. In a speech, Sony's president and chief operating officer Hiroki Totoki also claimed the "distribution inventories have also normalized," It can now supply the console to consumers without waiting.

The company aims to sell 25 million PS5 units in the current fiscal year ending in 2024, with a projected revenue of 3.9 trillion Japanese yen (roughly $28 billion) from the gaming division. However, Totoki warned of weaker demand due to a global economic slump.

Meanwhile, Sony's imaging division, which supplies camera sensors to several smartphone manufacturers, posted the second-highest revenue during the year, but its contribution was only about a third of the gaming arm's. The music division was close behind the imaging arm and the third-highest contributor to Sony's revenue.

Despite the abundance in hardware sales, Bloomberg reports Sony may fare below its next year's projection due to lower-than-expected sales from software. As per the report, sales of game copies were down to 68 million from 70.5 million in the previous year, suggesting a weak momentum.

On the one hand, Sony noted the number of active PlayStation users increased by 2.3 million in FY2022 compared to March 2022. But this was contradicted by a decrease in monthly users on the gaming network, down from 112 million to 108 million. Bloomberg links this to the lack of any significant game release from Sony's in-house.

Meanwhile, Sony's PlayStation VR2 virtual reality headset did not contribute much to or cause any boost in sales from games. In the speech, Tokoti pegged this poor traction to the two-month gaps between the sale of hardware and the appearance of any metrics to measure conversion.

Tokoti also said Sony plans to release a new game — "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" — this financial year and make existing titles available for PC and other platforms, which may patch the cash-bleeding from its software arm.