PlayStation 5 reaches 54.8 million sold units, but Sony is not happy

As it's down on expected shipments.

Sony shared its latest quarterly report earlier today and announced that it has now sold (shipped) 54.8 million PlayStation 5 units, of which 8.2 million were in the last quarter (October-December) alone. An impressive result and 1.1 million better than the corresponding quarter in 2022, but well below Sony's expectations.

As a result, instead of selling 25 million units this fiscal year (until March 31) as they had previously anticipated, this is now adjusted down to 21 million. Sony's gaming revenue increased by 16% compared to the same period last year, but operating profit fell by 26%, with expensive promotions said to be behind the declining profits.

The weaker-than-expected Christmas quarter can be considered somewhat surprising given that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was released late in October and a new, updated version of the console was launched in November, as well as favourable prices during Black Friday week. This also suggests that the reports of Sony halving PlayStation 5 production this spring are probably true.

How Sony will try to boost sales during the year is unclear, but the fact that they will not release any games in their existing franchises before March 31, 2025 will not help.