Sony’s PlayStation business has said it expects record operating income during its current fiscal year, partly due to strong sales of third-party games and PlayStation Plus subscriptions, and it intends to focus on a mix of single-player and live service games going forward.
In the company’s financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2024, Sony reported that sales for its Game and Network Services division were up 12% year-on-year, to about $7 billion.
Sony said this was primarily due to an increase in third-party game sales. It specifically mentioned “a new sports title”, likely EA Sports FC 25, and “an action RPG title from China”, likely Black Myth: Wukong,
Operating income was about $900 million, up 184%, which is a new record high for this segment during a second quarter. As a result, it raised its sales revenue forecast by 4% for the current fiscal year, which ends in April 2025.
The company shipped some 3.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles during the three month period – down 29% compared to the same period last year – for a life-to-date total of 65.5 million.
This means that PlayStation 5 is a few million units behind where PlayStation 4 was during the same period of its lifespan (67.5 million units shipped).
Sony’s Network services revenue – which encompasses PS Plus and advertising revenue – increased 18% year-on-year, which Sony said was primarily due to the shift to higher tiers of service and price increases.
Monthly active users across all platforms in September increased 8% compared to the same month last year, which is its eighth consecutive quarter of growth. Total playtime also increased 14% compared to the same month last year.
Commenting specifically on its PlayStation Studios business, Sony acknowledged a mixed year for its live service ambitions. While Helldivers 2 has been a big hit, Sony has experienced significant teething problems with its push into the live service games market, including cancelling a Last of Us multiplayer game and pulling Concord from sale after just two weeks.
The company said it would share what it learned from both Helldivers and Concord across its business, and, in the medium term, it will focus on a mix of single-player and live service games.
“We intend to build on an optimum title portfolio during the current mid-range plan period, that combines single-player games, which are our strength and which have a higher predictability of becoming hits due to our proven IP, with live service games that pursue upside, while taking on a certain amount of risk upon release.
Software sales (PS4 and PS5) increased 10.1 million year-over-year, to 77.7 million units. Digital software accounted for 70% of game sales, compared to 67% last year. Sony’s big first-party release for the quarter, Astro Bot, sold 1.5 million copies.
Commenting on the results, Tokyo-based industry consultant Dr Serkan Toto told VGC: “For me, Sony’s PlayStation numbers look surprisingly solid. They already said the entire fiscal would be rather silent in terms of first-party releases, but they still managed to boost software sales quarter-on-quarter.
“What is concerning is declining PS5 sales, a reaction to recent price hikes and the absence of big hits lately. I personally am a bit disappointed about Astro Bot’s sales and believe Sony could have pushed that game a lot harder before release.”
Earlier this year, Sony made what it called the “extremely hard decision” to reduce its overall headcount by “about 8% or about 900 people”, which included the closure of its long-running London studio.
PlayStation Studios boss Hulst said at the time that the platform holder was “reevaluating how we operate”, and that the layoffs had resulted in the cancellation of unnamed game projects.