PlayStation operating income falls 37% due to weaker game sales and higher development costs

Sony has released a financial report for the first quarter ended June 30. PlayStation experienced a decrease in revenue and operating income, lowering its guidance for the full fiscal year.

• Sony’s Game & Network Services division reported sales of $4.55 billion, which is down 2% year-over-year.
• The company cited a decrease in sales of first-party and third-party games as the main reason for a slight decline.
• PlayStation’s operating income reached $398 million, which is down 37% year-over-year.
• Besides weaker game sales, another factor that affected the gaming division’s operating income was an increase in costs for game development at Sony’s in-house studios.

• PlayStation now expects its revenue and operating income for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2023 to reach $27.2 billion and $1.92 billion, respectively. It is down 1% and 16% compared to the previous forecast.
• The company shipped 2.4 million PlayStation 5 units during the quarter, bringing total PS5 sales to 21.7 million units.
• Sony sold 47.1 million copies of games on its platform, far less than in any other quarter of the previous fiscal year. 
• Sales of first-party titles reached 6.4 million, which is also less than in any other quarter of FY 2021.
• The number of PlayStation Plus subscribers reached 47.3 million, which is up 2.1% year-over-year. However, it is a slight decrease compared to 47.4 million in the previous quarter ended March 31, 2022.