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PlayStation 5 sales break all records as Sony gears for wider PSVR 2 release

Sony is killing it with PS5 sales (image: Sony/YouTube)
Sony is killing it with PS5 sales (image: Sony/YouTube)
In the first quarter with improved PlayStation 5 retail availability, Sony sold the most of any gaming console in Q1, shipping 6.3 million PS5 units. Sony earned US$8.7 billion in operating income, too, riding on the wings of its gaming and music businesses.

Sony issued its fiscal year earnings preview and confirmed a record number of PlayStation 5 sales that beat any other console out there in the same quarter. Sony shipped 6.3 million PS5 units, more than doubling the year-on-year sales number.

The gaming division and its music business helped it achieved a breathtaking quarter with US$8.7 billion in operating income, too. Going forward, Sony is cautious about 2023, saying that the phone and TV industries won't be recovering this year, while it expects to sell about 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles this fiscal year.

The floodgates opened when Sony resolved the PS5 supply chain problems two years after its launch, and announced that this past quarter will be the first one with general PlayStation 5 availability at all retailers. This really showed in the sales results, as pent-up demand increased its monthly PlayStation users by more than 2 million new accounts, besides the record console sales, said Sony:

  • Last quarter, PS5 hardware sales reached 6.3 million units, a record high for PS consoles for the fourth quarter, and 19.1 million units for the full fiscal year of FY22.
  • Distribution inventories have also normalized, and we are now able to deliver PS5 to customers without waiting almost all over the world.
  • In addition, the positive impact of increased PS5 sell-in has begun to appear in engagement metrics, with dollar-based third-party software sales exceeding the same month of the previous fiscal year in February and March. Moreover, the number of monthly active users for PS as a whole increased 2.3 million accounts compared to the same month of the previous fiscal year in March.
  • Since it takes about one to two months from the time hardware is shipped until the effects of improved engagement become apparent, we will pay close attention to the engagement metrics for this quarter and reflect the results in our future forecast as appropriate.
  • We aim to continuously accelerate penetration of PS5 and aim for PS5 sell-in units for the current fiscal year to be 25 million units, the highest ever for any PS console in history.
  • As for software, we are continuing to strengthen and expand our first-party titles.
  • God of War: Ragnarök, which we released in November last year, won the most awards in 6 categories at the 2023 BAFTA Games Awards and, with this huge hit, sales of first-party software for the full fiscal year of FY22, including Bungie, grew significantly, with dollar-based sales increasing by 41% year-on-year.
  • We are also planning to release a major title, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, this fiscal year, and we aim to continue creating new IP, rolling out catalog titles for PC and strengthening live game service development.

The Spider-Man 2 boost will come in handy, as Sony sold slightly less PlayStation titles than the same quarter last year, while digital versions accounted for 70% of those sales, in line with expectations.

As for the recently released PSVR 2 headset, Sony announced that it will soon end its PlayStation Direct exclusivity. Availability at all major retailers should give Sony's otherwise excellent AR/VR headset a sales boost, as so far it has sold about 300,000 units, unlike the drastic ramp in PS5 console shipments.

Unfortunately, mum was the word by Sony on its eventual handheld gaming device Q Lite, the live-service gaming, and the prospective PS5 Pro that have been making the rounds as rumors in the past few months.

Get the PlayStation 5 on Amazon

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2023 04 > PlayStation 5 sales break all records as Sony gears for wider PSVR 2 release
Daniel Zlatev, 2023-04-28 (Update: 2023-04-28)