PlayStation 5 hardware sales are slipping away

PlayStation 5 hardware sales totalled 2.4 million units during Q1 FY24, down from 3.3 million units in Q1 FY23. According to Sony's latest fiscal report, that downturn in hardware sales was offset by an increase in sales of first-party software.

Net sales in the company's Game & Network Services (G&NS) division increased by 12 percent year over year to 864.9 billion yen ($5.8 billion). That upswing was attributed to income from network services including PlayStation Plus and first-party software. Operating income rose by 33 percent year-over-year to 65.2 billon yen ($442.5 million).

Ups and downs for Sony software sales

Although income from first-party software rose, unit sales were actually down. First party titles sold 6 million units in Q1 FY24 compared with 6.6 million units in Q1 FY23.

Full game software sales across PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 also fell to 53.6 million units from 56.5 million units over the same period. Sony noted that 80 percent of those sales were digital downloads.

The number of monthly active users on PlayStation Network increased year-over-year, rising to 116 million MAU from 108 million MAU. That figure is, however, slightly down on last quarter's total of 118 million MAU.

Based on those results, Sony has upwardly revised its G&NS forecast for the current fiscal year by 3 percent. It now expects the segment to deliver sales of 120 billion yen and operating income of 10 billion yen by March 31, 2025.