Sony Interactive Entertainment: New record year, but PS5 still hard to find

The semiconductor crisis prevents PS5 from catching up with PS4 sales for the second time in the affiliate program.

If the PS5 has sold 17.3 million copies, including the PS5’s 3.9 million between October and December last year, worldwide since its launch, that’s still less than the PS4’s 20.2 million over the same period. Victim of its own success, sales of Sony’s latest console have slowed due to inevitable shortages that still exist. So the goals are below. Instead of aiming for 22.6 million PS5s by March 2023, the Japanese giant expects a total of 19.3 million. As for the PS4, it’s nearing its end, with 200,000 units distributed, up from 1.4 million last year. Price cuts would be very welcome to try to make the final breakthrough before shutting down production.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is nonetheless delighted to hit a record €22bn turnover for all of 2021, despite operating profit falling 21%. Conversely, turnover in the last quarter of the year declined (6.2 billion euros) while profit rose (718.3 million euros). This is even the largest operating profit ever recorded by the PlayStation brand between October and December. Finally, although SIE is forced to revise its turnover downward for the entire financial year, it will remain the largest in its history (21.8 billion euros). Annual operating profit revised upwards (€2.6 billion) due to lower selling, general and administrative expenses.

Sony Interactive Entertainment financial report, update on various figures

• Between October and December 2021, 92.7 million PS5 and PS4 games were sold, up from 104.2 million games in the same quarter a year earlier.
• During this period, 11.3 million in-house games were sold, up from 19 million a year earlier.
• 62% of games sold last quarter were downloads, up from 53% a year earlier.
• 48 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, a new record and an increase of 600,000 subscribers compared to last year
• 294.1 million PlayStation games sold, including 95.6 million boxed games and 198.5 million downloads for all of 2021.
• For all of 2021, 37.3 million in-house games have been sold.