Sony has released its Fiscal Year 2022 report, which has revealed significant milestones and growth for its PlayStation division.
Record PS5 sales after stock shortages
The first noteworthy observation is that Sony has now shipped over 38 million PS5 consoles in its lifetime, with 6.3 million consoles being shipped in the first three months of 2023. This is a sales record for any console in the first quarter of the calendar year, which typically represents the slowest time of the year for new console uptake.
As VGC notes, the 6.3 million figure is almost triple what Sony shipped last year, when technology production was constrained by microprocessor shortages, and PS5 stock was limited. These roadblocks have seemingly now been resolved as the company claimed at the beginning of 2023, with the built-up demand having an immense impact.
Read: PS5 stock woes should be over now, says PlayStation
Sony has stated it now expects to ship 25 million more PS5 consoles over the next fiscal year, which ends on 31 March 2024. If it hits this figure, it would be another sales record for PlayStation consoles.
Huge boost in PC software sales
Another noteworthy observation is that PlayStation’s game software sales have increased year on year, from roughly US $11 billion in FY21, to US $12 billion in FY22.
Notably, PC Gamer has made an astute observation in regards to the ‘Others’ category on Sony’s sales report, which encapsulates ‘revenue from peripherals including PlayStation VR and revenue from sales of first-party titles on platforms other than PlayStation consoles.’
This ‘Others’ segment made a jump from roughly US $1.3 billion in FY21 to US $2.4 billion in FY22,
With the assumption that the release of the PlayStation VR2 may have contributed to some of this bump (the final quarterly results, which encapsulate the device’s launch, saw a rise from roughly US $378 million in FY21 to US $1 billion), the results across the year have still seen some very strong growth.
Sony has released several PC versions of its first-party software titles over the past year, including several heavy hitters like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, and The Last of Us: Part I.
In May 2022, Sony stated that it expected to sell US $300 million worth of PC games in 2022. Despite seeming like a lofty goal at the time, the figures appear to indicate at least some success in that regard.
While the PC version of The Last of Us: Part I has seen some vocal backlash due to its poor technical performance upon release, we can assume these figures will not deter Sony from continuing its strategy.
