PS5 achieves unprecedented sales during the holiday season, while PlayStation's revenues hit $11 billion
For the period ending December 31, 2024, Sony has revealed strong financial performance, with significant revenue gains during the festive season.
The Games & Network Services division showed marked revenue growth, with the PlayStation 5 having its most successful quarter. Consequently, Sony has revised its PlayStation sales projections upward.
Financial Performance Overview:
For the nine months concluding December 2024
- Total sales: ¥10.3 trillion ($66.9 billion, an 8.2% rise from the previous year)
- Operating income: ¥1.2 trillion ($7.8 billion, an increase of 22.9%)
Games & Network Services specifics
- Sales: ¥3.6 trillion ($23.4 billion, an increase of 13.8%)
- Operating income: ¥322.1 billion ($2.1 billion, up 74.8%)
Key Developments:
During the holiday period, Sony shipped 9.5 million PS5 units. This figure includes the PlayStation Pro, which debuted in November 2024. The PS5 achieved its strongest quarterly performance, with sales nearly matching that of the PS4 over a comparable timeframe since launch.
In the nine-month period of 2024, 15.7 million PS5 units were shipped. Including Q1, a total of 20.2 million units were distributed in 2024.
By the third quarter's end, monthly active users reached 129 million, up from 123 million year over year, setting a record for PlayStation. Total gameplay time grew by 2% year-on-year in Q3, marking the seventh consecutive year of growth in this metric.
Over 40% of holiday PS5 buyers were new users, significantly boosting monthly active users.
Full game sales hit 95.9 million in Q3, including 11.6 million first-party titles. Although total game sales rose from the previous year's 89.7 million, first-party games fell from 16.2 million.
During an earnings call, Sony highlighted the achievements of Astro Bot and Helldivers 2, released in September and August 2024, respectively. Astro Bot sold 1.5 million units within 58 days, while Helldivers 2 reached 12 million in combined PlayStation and PC sales over 87 days.
Sony noted these games' accolades at various awards, stating: "Our pursuit of expanding into family-oriented and live service games while receiving recognition is pivotal in diversifying our game portfolio."
Looking to fiscal year 2025, the company anticipates further earnings growth, aided by the launches of Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
In the holiday quarter, Sony's Game & Network Services sales climbed 16% to ¥1.7 trillion ($11 billion). Digital game and content sales rose 13.6% to ¥718.2 billion ($4.6 billion), with hardware sales increasing nearly 10% to ¥724.7 billion ($4.7 billion).
Network Services revenue surged 29% to ¥176.9 billion ($1.1 billion), with PlayStation Plus sales up 20%, due in part to higher service tiers and price changes.
Sony has revised its fiscal year forecasts, with G&NS sales projected at ¥4.6 trillion ($29.9 billion), a 3% increase over prior estimates of ¥4.5 trillion ($29.2 billion), and a 9.5% rise from the last fiscal year's ¥4.2 trillion ($27.3 billion).