Sony reported strong first-quarter earnings despite a 27% year-over-year decline in PlayStation 5 hardware unit sales
Sony revealed its financial figures for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. First-party sales and PlayStation Plus showed notable improvements in its dynamic gaming sector, but hardware sales experienced a downturn, marking four years since the PS5 launch.
Financial Performance
For the quarter ending June 30, 2024:
- Overall Sales: ¥3.01 trillion ($20.5 billion), an increase of 2% from the previous year
- Net Income: ¥235 billion ($1.6 billion), up by 8.2% year-over-year
- Game & Network Services Revenue: ¥864 billion ($5.89 billion), 12% higher than the same period last year
Key Insights
Revenue from software amounted to ¥486 billion ($3.30 billion) within the Game & Network Services sector, reflecting nearly 20% growth from last year. Add-on content saw a significant rise, up 37% compared to the same time last year.
More than 53.6 million PS5 titles were purchased in Q1, with digital downloads making up 80% of total sales. This compared to 56.5 million units sold in the corresponding timeframe last year.
Conversely, hardware revenue diminished by 21% to ¥146 billion ($990 million), with PS5 unit sales falling to 2.4 million from last year's 3.3 million – a 27% drop. This also represented a stark contrast to Q4 FY23's figures, where sales reached 4.5 million units and saw a 44% revenue decline and 46% decrease in units sold.
On the brighter side, PlayStation Network's monthly active users climbed to 116 million from 108 million last year, nearly matching Q4 FY23's 118 million.
In its revised forecast for the full year, Sony now projects sales to hit ¥11.7 trillion ($79.7 billion), up by 3% from earlier estimations. This is attributed to robust performances across its gaming, music, and entertainment divisions.
