PlayStation 5 enjoys best ever holiday period, reaching 75 million shipments
PS5 shipments are now neck-and-neck with PS4
PlayStation 5 enjoyed its best-ever holiday period in 2024 and has now cleared 75 million units shipped, Sony announced on Thursday.
In the company’s financial results for the three months ended December 31, 2024, Sony reported shipments of 9.5 million PS5 consoles – the best quarter ever of the PS5 era, and only 0.2 million behind PlayStation 4’s peak in Q3 in FY2017.
Launch-aligned, PlayStation 5 is now just 1.5 million units behind PlayStation 4 during the same period of its lifecycle (76.5 million units). Sony has shipped 15.7 million PlayStation 5 consoles during the first three quarters of its current year, with a target of 18 million by the end of March.
The results include sales of PlayStation 5 Pro (which launched in November) for the first time, but Sony did not provide separate sales figures for the console.
Despite releasing a significant first-party game in the previous fiscal year in the form of Marvel Spider-Man 2, operating income increased 37% year-over-year, at about $766 million, which is a new record high for a third quarter. Sony said this was partly due to third-party games, subscriptions and microtransactions, and higher profitability from hardware.
Monthly active users across all platforms were up by 43% at 129 million users compared to the same point of the PS4 generation (90 million users). This is up 5% year-on-year, and the highest in PlayStation’s history, Sony said. Last year, the company said that about half of its monthly active users were on PS4.
According to the company, 42% of PS5 console sales during its latest quarter were to new users, which it said contributed “substantially” to the increase in active users.
Sony reported that sales for its Game and Network Services division were up 12% year-on-year, to about $761 million. As a result, it raised its sales revenue forecast by 3% for the current fiscal year, which ends in April 2025.
PlayStation Plus revenue increased by 20% year-on-year, which it said was mainly due to higher average revenue per user, due to a general shift to higher price tiers.
Sony’s Network services revenue – which encompasses PS Plus and advertising revenue – increased 28% year-on-year. Software sales (PS4 and PS5) increased 6.2 million year-over-year, to 95.9 million units. Digital software accounted for 74% of game sales, compared to 66% last year.
Commenting on its PlayStation business during a web call, the company highlighted the success of Astro Bot and Helldivers 2, which it said signified its intention to expand in the areas of family games and live service titles.
Looking ahead, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei will release this year, alongside significant third-party titles like Monster Hunter Wilds and Grand Theft Auto 6. Sony said it had “high expectations” for the titles releasing in its next fiscal year, which runs from April 1.
Commenting on the results, Tokyo-based industry consultant Dr Serkan Toto told VGC: “I think a lot of people in gaming expected a soft Q3 for Sony, given the total absence of first-party blockbuster software. However, it looks like an especially strong Call Of Duty last year, and solid repeat sales helped Sony out this time.
“As far as we can see from the data, PS5 Pro likely sold pretty well, too. One big factor here, in my eyes, is the 129 million PlayStation online users, a very solid number. Q4 will likely be somber for Sony, but they can be pretty happy with this silent fiscal year overall.”
