PlayStation full-year revenues rise to $27.5 billion but narrowly misses PS5 sales target

gamesindustry.biz:

Sony has released its full-year financial results, showing a solid twelve months for its PlayStation business ahead of a year in which it is forecasting declines.

The platform holder saw net sales for its Game & Network Services division, which includes PlayStation, rise by 17% year-on-year to ¥4.3 trillion ($27.5 billion), while operating income rose 16% to ¥290.2 billion ($1.9 billion).

Sony also managed to ship 20.8 million PlayStation 5 units throughout the fiscal year. This was an improvement on the 19.1 million managed in the previous year, but fell slightly short of its 21 million target.

Alongside its financial results, Sony announced new leadership for PlayStation with Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino taking over from Jim Ryan as joint CEOs.

Here's what you need to know:

Full-year (12 months ended March 31, 2024)

Q4 (3 months ended March 31, 2024)

Breaking down the full-year results for its G&NS division, Sony reported software sales of ¥2.2 trillion ($14.1 billion, up 24% year-on-year), of which digital software and add-ons accounted for ¥1.9 trillion ($12.1 billion, up 27%).

The platform holder said 286.4 million games were sold for PS5 during the course of the year, of which 39.7 million were first-party titles. By comparison, the previous fiscal year saw 264.2 million games sold, of which 43.5 million were first-party.

According to VGC, Sony announced during its earnings webcast that Helldivers 2 sold 12 million copies in 12 weeks across PC and PS5. The company said this was "far exceeding expectations" and makes it the fastest-selling PlayStation game launch to date.

Hardware revenues saw a 9% boost at ¥1.7 trillion ($10.9 billion), which there was decent growth in revenue from network services — including PlayStation Plus — at ¥545.5 billion ($3.5 million, up 17%).

There were 118 million active PSN users at the end of Q4 (three months ended March 31, 2024) — down from the 123 million reported at the end of Q3 but up from 108 million marked at the same time