PlayStation 5 sales have surpassed 7.8 million globally since the console’s launch back in November of last year, Sony has announced.
Shortly after Microsoft published its Q3 financial earnings report, Sony published its financial results for FY2020 with an earnings call following shortly. Additional documents accompanying the financial results can be found here (consolidated financial results) and here (supplemental information).
While demand remains higher than the available supply, Sony has managed to ship 7.8 million PS5 units as of March 31, 2021. As mentioned in the financial results, of those 7.8 million units, 3.3 million units were shipped during the first 3 months of 2021. Interestingly, as noted by industry analysts Benji Sales and Daniel Ahmad, this means that the PS5 is outpacing the PS4 with launches aligned over the same time period. For reference, in the same timeframe, Sony managed to sell 7.6 million PS4 units.
"Sales increased 678.7 billion yen (34%) year-on-year to 2 trillion 656.3 billion yen (a 35% increase on a constant currency basis). This significant increase in sales was primarily due to an increase in game software sales including add-on content and an increase in hardware sales due to the launch of PlayStation 5", Sony's financial statements report reads.
As for software sales across both PS4 and PS5, a total of 338.9 million games were sold during Sony’s fiscal year. Of these sold games, 58.4 million copies (17%) were from Sony’s first-party studios.
A total of 338.9m games were sold in for PS4 and PS5 over the past fiscal year (Ending March 31, 2021).
This includes both packaged and digital copies.
65% or 220m were sold via digital download, higher than the 53% ratio last year.
17% or 58.4m were first party games. pic.twitter.com/nXu9EtLfSS
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 28, 2021
For Sony’s next fiscal year (FY21), the Japanese company is forecasting that its first-party studios under the PlayStation Studios umbrella will generate more revenue than last year (FY20).
Next Fiscal year Sony is forecasting 1st party PlayStation Studios titles to generate more money than last FY which included heavy hitters like The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, and Spider-Man Miles Morales
BIG expectations for Horizon Forbidden West, God of War, etc. pic.twitter.com/l9CWzpRj3f
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) April 28, 2021
Impressive numbers for Sony for sure, especially considering the fact that supply has been hampered due to component shortages.
The PS5 launched on November 12th in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The console launched in other regions one week later on November 19.
