Niko Partners: PlayStation 5 sold almost 5x more units last quarter than Xbox Series X|S
Following the publication of Sony’s FY23 report, Niko Partners director of research and insights Daniel Ahmad has shared more data about the company’s gaming business and the sales of PlayStation 5 consoles.
As Sony revealed in its financial report, the company sold 20.8 million PlayStation 5 units globally in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, which was below previous forecast.
4.5 million units were sold in the fourth quarter, down from 6.3 million year-over-year. As a result, Sony saw a decline in its Q4 hardware revenue, which fell 29.3% year-over-year to ¥262.7 billion ($1.7 billion).
However, Sony is still far ahead of Microsoft in hardware sales. “According to our estimates, [4.5 million units sold in the last quarter] is almost 5x more than the Xbox Series X|S shipped in the same period,” Ahmad said in a post on X.
It is worth noting that Microsoft doesn’t discloe the number of Xbox units sold. According to its financial report for the three-month period ended March 31, 2024, its hardware revenue reached $429 million — down 31% year-over-year. Lower volume of consoles sold was the main reason for the decline. The company’s CFO Amy Hood noted that in the current quarter, “hardware revenue will decline again year-over-year.”
Going back to Sony, the life-to-date sales of PlayStation 5 have now reached 59.2 million units. The last time Microsoft disclosed console sales was in June 2023, when it announced that Xbox Series X|S had crossed the 21 million milestone.
5. The PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in the last quarter. According to our estimates, this is almost 5x more than the Xbox Series X|S shipped in the same period.
(This is a bonus one for the console warriors + my rent is due)
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 14, 2024
In his thread, Ahmad noted that PS5 is currently slightly behind PS4, which shipped 60 million units over the same period during its lifecycle. “While console hardware sales are healthy, Sony is unable to sell more than the prior gen,” he said. “That’s why there has been a huge focus on increasing ARPU for console users and also embracing a beyond console strategy (PC, etc.).”
For example, Helldivers 2 became a massive success for Sony. The game sold 12 million copies in 12 weeks, beating the previous record set by God of War Ragnarök.
