PS5 hits 25 million, but Sony gaming profits fall 49% due to rising costs

videogameschronicle.com:

PlayStation 5 has reached 25 million units shipped, Sony announced during its latest financial results on Tuesday.

The electronics giant shipped 3.3 million PS5 units during the three months ended September 30, 2022 (FY2022 Q2), it said, which is the exact same figure it managed during the same period last year.

That brings total PS5 console sales to 5.7 million for the first half of FY2022, which is far short of Sony’s target of 18 million by the end of its current fiscal year in March 2023.

While Sony’s Game & Network Services division reported Q2 revenues of ¥720.7 billion ($4.88 billion), up 12% year-over-year and a record Q2 in terms of Japanese yen figures, profit fell significantly by 49% at ¥42.1 billion ($284.6 billion).

Sony said this was due to an increase in game development and acquisition costs (including its purchase of Bungie), as well as a negative impact of foreign exchange rates reflecting a high ratio of USD costs.

The company revised its full-year forecast down by 12%, citing lower-than-expected sales of third-party games.

Software sales increased during the quarter at 62.5 million units – up from 47.2m in the previous quarter, but down from the 76.4m managed during last year’s Q2 window.

For the second quarter in a row, the company also saw a decline in the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers and PlayStation Network monthly active users (MAUs).

The total number of PlayStation Plus users stood at 45.4 million for Q2, down from 47.2 million a year earlier and 47.3 million in the previous quarter ended on June 30, 2022.

PlayStation Network MAUs totalled 102 million, down from 104 million a year earlier and 103 million in the previous quarter. This appears to be Sony’s lowest MAUs figure since it began