Sony has announced that the PS5 has reached 25 million units sold worldwide, but gaming profits have fallen by 49% including a drop in PlayStation Plus subscribers. The company targeted selling 18 million units by the end of its current fiscal year (ending March 2023) but results for the first half of FY2022 show only 5.7 million units were shipped, meaning it has a lot of ground to cover in sales. Nonetheless, Sony says PS5 sales are still going according to plan and believes it could still reach its 18 million target in the coming months.
In total, Sony shipped 3.3 million PS5 units in FY2022 Q2 (ending 30 September 2022). This is the exact same figure it managed to achieve in the same time period last year. Sony’s Game & Network Services division reported Q2 revenues of $4.88 billion, which is up 12% year-over-year. However, gaming profits have decreased by 49% at $284.6 million.
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Sony attributes the decline in gaming profits to a couple of factors. Namely, an increase in game development and acquisition costs (which includes its buyout of Destiny developer Bungie), as well as a negative impact of foreign exchange rates leading to a high ratio of USD costs.
Interestingly, Sony reported that there’s been a decline in the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers and PlayStation Network monthly active users. Essentially, PlayStation Plus subscribers have dropped by nearly 2 million users since the service revamped with multiple tier offerings in June. In Q2, PlayStation Plus subscribers total 45.4 million, a decline from 47.2 million earlier this year.
Sony remains confident that it can continue to ship more PS5 consoles out to the market, setting a target of 23 million that it plans to ship during its next fiscal year beginning April 2023. The holiday season, coupled with the release of the highly anticipated God of War Ragnarok, might be a promising time period for stronger sales too.
Source: Video Games Chronicle
