Generation When?
Sony has released its financial results forthe fiscal year ending July 05, 2025(Q1 2022), and while the PlayStation 5 platform continues to gather slight momentum on a global scale, overall the brand is seeing a general decline in customer expenditure, particularly in the realm of software and subscriptions.
The mighty PS5 has now hit an impressive 21.7 million global shipments since its launch in the fall of 2020, with around 2.4 million consoles shipped in Q1. While this number is certainly nothing to be sniffed at, it reflects an increasingly granular sales growth when compared to that of the company’s previous PlayStation hardware launches. Still, the numbers are moving in the right direction, ifa little more slowlythan Sony had perhaps hoped.
In the realm of software, accessories, and subscriptions, however, a different tale is being told. PS4 and PS5 games sales totaled 47.1 million units this past quarter, which is down almost 17 million year-on-year. This is particularly notable given that 2022 has seen many of the industry’s biggest hitters all launched atypically earlier this year, so one would actually assume numbers would beupon previous years. 79% of all game sales were digital, an increase of 8% on the previous quarter.
Overall, this is no sign whatsoever that PlayStation is in any sort of danger — we’re still talking a revenue of millions upon millions — but it is a sign that the latest generation of gaming continues in its struggle to find a solid foothold. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an increased cost of living, scalpers, production woes, component shortages, and general human apathy all play a role in the gaming industry’s continued malaise — one that is affecting developers, publishers, and manufacturers.
