Sony smashes console shipping record as PS5 clears 38m

Sony Interactive Entertainment has shipped a record 6.3 million PlayStation 5 consoles during the first three months of the year, to reach 38.3 million consoles shipped life to date.

This reportedly represents a record for any games console during a calendar Q1 window. It’s also double PlayStation 4’s all-time peak for the same window, and more than triple what PS5 managed during the same, supply-constrained period last year.

The most PS4s Sony has ever shipped during the first three months of a calendar year is three million, which was achieved shortly after the console’s launch, between January and March of 2014 (the fourth quarter of FY2013).

It means PS5 console shipments reached 19.1 million during Sony’s FY2022, and cleared its target of 19 million for the fiscal year – a figure that looked unlikely just four months ago. The total is also up from 11.5 million PS5s shipped in FY2021.

Overall, PlayStation 4 had shipped just over 40 million consoles during the same period of its lifecycle, so PS5 is tracking behind its predecessor (though with significant supply issues due to the pandemic).

At the start of the year, Sony signalled that PS5’s long battle with supply issues was finally over. “If you’re looking to purchase a PS5 console, you should now have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally,” it said.

Looking ahead, Sony said it expects to ship 25 million PS5 consoles during the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, which would represent a record for PlayStation consoles.

“If we could achieve that, it would be our highest level ever,” CFO Hiroki Totoki said during an earnings call on Friday, adding that the reason the company believes the figure is possible is because of data it has on the rate of PS4 users upgrading to PS5, as well as the number of new adopters.

On Friday, Sony’s Game & Network Services division reported FY22 Q4 revenues of ¥1073.19 billion ($7.9 billion), up 61% year-over-year.

PlayStation Plus users hit 47.4 million in Q4, which was flat year-over-year but the highest total since before the service’s June 2022 revamp.

Sony’s Network services revenue – which encompasses PS Plus and advertising revenue – remains significantly up on pre-revamp figures at ¥118.9 billion (up from ¥104.4 billion last year), likely influenced by the more expensive PS Plus subscription tiers introduced by Sony.

PlayStation Network monthly active users (MAU) were up two million year-over-year to 108 million. Sony says its MAU are the estimated total number of unique accounts that played games or used services on the PlayStation Network during the last month of the quarter.

Software sales (PS4 and PS5) decreased 2.5 million year-over-year, to 68 million units. Full-year software sales were also down 13% year-over-year to 264.2 million.

Digital software accounted for 70% of quarterly game sales and 67% of full-year sales, compared to 71% and 66% respectively last year.