PlayStation sales rise slightly to $20.7bn as PS5 nears 20m shipments

At a glance:

• Operating income for Game and Network Services flat, expected to drop in FY2023 due to Bungie acquisition
• PS5 shipped 11.5 million units, bringing the total sold to 19.3 million since launch
• First-party PlayStation titles shifted 43.9 million copies out of the 303.2 million units shifted in total across PS4 and PS5

Sony released its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, with game sales increasing 3.1% year-on-year, reaching ¥2.7 trillion ($20.7 billion).

Operating income from the company's game segment reached ¥346 billion ($2.6 billion), a very slight 1.2% rise compared to FY2020.

The hardware segment is where games experienced the most growth at Sony, with revenue reaching ¥840 billion ($6.4 billion), a 9.5% increase year-on-year. Revenue for network services were up 6.8% to ¥409 billion ($3.1 billion), while digital software and add-on content were down 2% to ¥1.42 trillion ($10.8 billion).

The overall increase in sales for Sony's games segment was "mainly due to the impact of foreign exchange rates as well as an increase in sales of hardware, partially offset primarily by a decrease in software sales, mainly from non-first-party titles including add-on content," the company said in the report.

The operating income essentially being flat was "primarily due to a decrease in loss resulting from strategic price points for PlayStation 5 hardware that were set lower than manufacturing costs, substantially offset by the impact of a decrease in sales of non-first-party titles including add-on content," Sony added.

The PS5 shipped 11.5 million units during FY2021, bringing the total sold to 19.3 million since launch. The PS4 still shipped one million units during the year, compared to 5.7 million in FY2020.

First-party PlayStation titles shifted 43.9 million copies out of the 303.2 million units shifted in total across PS4 and PS5 for the fiscal year. Digital downloads were slightly on the rise representing 66% of all software sales, compared to 65% the previous year.

Looking at Q4 FY2021 specifically, game sales were flat year-on-year (less than 1% growth), but operating income was up an impressive 175% to ¥87.3 billion ($670 million).

Looking ahead, Sony said it's expecting "significant increases" in its Game and Network Services segment for FY2022 due to "an expected increase in sales of non-first-party titles," but a drop in operating income for the segment, due to "an expected increase in costs, mainly for game software development at existing studios," and the $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie.

Overall, results were on the rise across the board at Sony, with the company reporting a 26% rise in operating income, reaching ¥9.9 trillion ($759 billion) with Sony's pictures division in particular leading the charge with a 64% increase in sales year-on-year.