Sony sold 2.8m PlayStation 5 consoles in its most recent financial quarter, bringing total lifetime sales to 77.8m consoles.
That’s down 1.7m units compared to the same period last year and leads the company to a total of 18.5m consoles sold this year compared to 20.8m last year.
Despite that slight drop, the PS5 is still roughly on par with the PS4, which sold 79.1m consoles after an equivalent time after release. What’s more, the previous quarter was the PS5’s best-selling with 9.5m sales over Christmas.
Even with that year-on-year drop in console sales, overall sales for the gaming sector are up nine percent, while operating income is up 43 percent.
That’s largely down to an increase in third-party game sales, while first-party game sales have dropped. Notably, Sony hasn’t had a major PlayStation Studios release since Astro Bot in September last year, which has sold 1.5m copies.
However, the number of monthly active users on the console remains strong at 124 million users, down from the record high of 129 million the previous quarter. Overall, this number has risen since last year.
Sony is forecasting a drop in both sales and profits for the next financial year, due to an expected decrease in hardware sales, which suggests console sales have peaked similarly to the PS4.
In April the company raised the price of the digital PS5 in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Microsoft also raised the price of all its Xbox consoles in May – it’s unclear if a further increase will come from Sony for its remaining console models across the globe, notably its PS5 Pro.
As for software, Sony has a strong year ahead with Death Stranding 2: On the Beach out next month and Ghost of Yōtei out on 2nd October. With GTA 6 delayed into 2026, this new Ghost game should stand out at the end of the year.
Death Stranding 2 expands on the previous game with more experimentation and customisation, as well as a big dollop of Metal Gear. Check out more in Eurogamer’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hands-on preview.