Sony has reported a substantial drop in PS5 console sales compared to 2023. The company says sales are down by 29% year-on-year selling a total of 20.9 million units in fiscal year 2023. This also means Sony’s forecasted PS5 sales for 2023 fell short of the expected 21 million units – although slightly. The company also says it expects sales to decline further in the year ahead.
Sony has now readjusted its 2024 forecast down to 18 million units. The company expects to sell that number within the year ahead. Keep in mind that this likely includes the rumoured PS5 Pro which is expected to launch at the end of the year.
The PS5 is currently sitting on 59.3 million units sold in total as of now. Even with the decreased sales, Sony did report a major profit across its gaming division. Profit was up by 172% to $700m. Sony says the success of Helldivers 2 played a big role in this. The game shipped 12 million units across PS5 and PC since its launch in March. It took only 12 weeks to hit this milestone.
Sony did boast the best financial year ever in 2023 so the 20% drop was expected. The company has also confirmed that the PS5 is now entering the “later stage” of its lifecycle which means sales are naturally expected to drop.
Sony has also confirmed that the PlayStation division won’t have any “major blockbuster games from existing IPs releasing in 2024”. The readjusted forecast likely reflects this.
The PS5 is currently 800k units behind the PS4 during the same timeframe on the market. However, given that the PS5 was launched during the global pandemic and has been the only console to receive a price increase, this number is still impressive.
Sony also confirmed during its financial report that Concord is expected to launch sometime this year. The company also says there won’t be any first-party game launch before April 2025.
Source: GameIndustry.biz
