Solid Q1 for Sony but PS5 hardware unit sales down 27% YoY
Revenue from software sales on the rise year-on-year though, with 53.6 million PS5 games sold during the quarter
Sony has released financial results for its Q1 FY2024. While first-party sales and PlayStation Plus were both highlighted as particular areas of growth within its healthy games segment, hardware sales are on the decline, four years into the PS5 lifecycle.
The numbers
For the three months ended June 30, 2024:
- Sales: ¥3.01 trillion ($20.5 billion), up 2% year-on-year
- Net income: ¥235 billion ($1.6 billion), up 8.2% year-on-year
- Game & Network Services sales: ¥864 billion ($5.89 billion), up 12% year-on-year
The highlights
Software sales represented ¥486 billion ($3.30 billion) in revenue out of the total for the G&NS segment, an almost 20% growth year-on-year. As part of that, add-on content sales particularly grew compared to the same period last year, up 37%.
Over 53.6 million PS5 games were sold during Q1, 80% of them digitally. That compared to 56.5 million during the same period last year.
Revenue from hardware sales were on the decline though, down 21% to ¥146 billion ($990 million), with the PlayStation 5 shifting 2.4 million units during the quarter compared to 3.3 million last year – a 27% decrease in units. When compared to Q4 FY23, which ended on March 31, 2024, PS5 sales were down 44% in revenue and 46% from the 4.5 million units shifted then.
Meanwhile, PlayStation Network's monthly active users were on the rise at 116 million compared to 108 million last year, but on a par with Q4 FY23's 118 million.
Looking ahead, Sony has adjusted its forecast for the full year compared to last quarter, now anticipating sales to reach ¥11.7 trillion ($79.7 billion), a 3% increase on what was previously expected. That is due to continuing strong performances across its games, music, and entertainment segments.