Sony has revealed its latest financial results for Q1 2024, the period between April 1 and June 30. In that time, 2.4 million PS5 consoles were sold which is down from 3.3 million from the same period last year. Sony says that the Q1 sales in the Games & Network Services is up 12% from last year and operating income went up 32%. Despite all of this and the overall decrease in sales of hardware, The total number of PS5 sales has now reached $61.7 million.
Sony says that the increase is due to the impact of foreign exchange rates, the increase in sales of first-party titles, and the increase in sales from network services, mainly PlayStation Plus.
Sony acknowledged the “decrease in sales of hardware due to a decrease in unit sales.”
Sony also reported that software unit sales are down year-on-year, with 53.6 million units sold in Q1 20204 compared to 565 million units during the same period last year. They also reported that the digital download ratio for Q1 was 80% digital vs. 20% physical, compared to an average of 70% last year.
Following its Q1 results, Sony has revised its forecast for the gaming division for its financial year (April 2024- March 2025), adjusting its sales and operating income forecasts up by 3%.
Speaking to VGC, Tokyo-based industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto said “Given Sony is going through rather silent 2024 software-wise, the numbers actually look quite solid. For instance, you can see the positive effect on sales from the price increase for PlayStation Plus in their numbers. The big weak spot, however, is hardware sales. The year on year drop is not surprising but quite significant. Sony can only hope that Astro Bot or the one or other new game coming this year will make people go out and buy PS5s again.”