PlayStation breaks records with latest financial results

Sony has reported record-breaking financial results for the period between April and June.

At $5.6bn, total revenue for the PlayStation business was up more than 30 percent for the year and represented the highest Q1 performance in the division’s history.

This was driven by a significant increase in digital software and add-on sales, which generated around $3.7bn – an increase of 83 percent compared to the same period last year.

Sony also saw what it called a “significant increase” in PlayStation Plus subscriber numbers, which now stand at around 45 million (up from 41.5m on March 31)

The games industry as a whole saw a significant increase in digital sales during this period, as countries around the world urged people to stay at home due to the pandemic.

However, 1.9 million PlayStation 4 units were sold during Sony’s latest quarter, which is down from 3.2 million during the same period last year and likely impacted by the impending launch of PlayStation 5.

PlayStation has now shipped more than 112 million PS4 consoles, it said, which represents an increase of around 3 million units since the start of the year. The record for a home console stands at 155 million units (PlayStation 2).

Sony said that although production of PlayStation 4 hardware was “slightly impacted” due to issues in the component supply chain, these have now been addressed.

On PS5, it said that although factors such as constraints due to employees working from home and restrictions on international travel remain, “necessary measures” have been taken to ensure the console’s 2020 holiday launch.

At this time, no major problems have arisen in the game software development pipeline for Sony’s own first-party studios or its partners’ studios, it said.