PlayStation 5 shipped 4.9m units during Q2 2023

Sony has released its second quarter results for the financial year, showing an increase in overall revenue due a rise in its movie, music, and gaming businesses.

The numbers

• Sales: Up 8% to ¥2.8 trillion ($18.5 billion)
• Net income: Down 29% to ¥200 billion ($1.32 billion)
• Game and network service sales: Up 32% to ¥954 billion ($6.31 billion)

The highlights

Sony attributed the increase in sales during the second quarter to growth in its G&NS, music, and picture sectors, while also experiencing an income decrease in its financial and entertainment, technology and services segments.

Looking at GN&S more closely, growth was attributed to an increase of sales in hardware, non-first-party titles including add-on content, and the impact of foreign exchange rates.

Software sales were up 26% to ¥479 billion ($3.16 billion), representing 67.6 million copies sold across PlayStation consoles. First-party titles represented 4.7 million units of this total, with Spider-Man 2 selling more than 5 million units worldwide as of October 30.

Digital software sales represented ¥200 billion ($1.32 billion) during Q2, an increase of 39%, while physical title sales were down 4% to ¥35 billion ($231 million).

Meanwhile, hardware sales rose 60% to ¥287 billion ($1.9 billion) with the PlayStation 5 shifting 4.9 million units during this period.

Sony said this was "in-line with its expectations," and represented a 25% increase over the number of PS4 units sold in the second quarter of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, during which 20 million units of the console were sold.

Earlier this year, the firm said it planned to sell 25 million PS5 units by the end of the fiscal year. This figure remains unchanged, with Sony attributing the release of the redesigned PS5 and the introduction of the PS Portal as a way to increase sales during the holiday season.

Looking ahead, Sony has forecasted sales for this fiscal year (ending in March 2024) to reach ¥12.4 trillion ($82 billion) – up 2% compared to the forecast from August and representing a 13% increase compared to FY22.

As for Sony's games sector, the company is expecting sales to reach ¥4.36 trillion ($28.85 billion), a 19% rise over the previous fiscal year. Its operating income forecast remains the same, with the company expecting 8% growth year-on-year to ¥270 billion ($1.78 billion).

"In the second half of the fiscal year, we intend to focus on responding to this business environment in each business and establish a foundation for growth for the next mid-range plan and beyond," Sony explained.

"In particular, we plan to focus our efforts on the top priorities of increasing the market penetration of PS5 and expanding the PS5 user base as a result in the G&NS segment."

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