Sony may be preparing for a new era with the release of the PlayStation 5 but that hasn't stopped the momentum of current PlayStation sales. New reports from Sony's quarterly earnings have revealed that sales did well amidst the pandemic, but the standout by far has been digital games sales over physical purchases.
Statistics revealed by Daniel Ahmad, an analyst with Niko Partners, have previously shown that Sony made an incredible amount of money from microtransactions and DLC content. Purchases via the PlayStation store have been increasing with each generation, but have done particularly well this quarter according to new statistics.
With sales in DLC increasing, the sales for digital PlayStation games have also increased for Sony this past quarter. In a tweet, Ahmad revealed that this financial quarter was the best ever for overall network sales with digital full game sales up 74% from 53%. These quarterly statistics cover the period from April to June, and have likely been heavily influenced by the pandemic.
Digital game sales have steadily been on the rise, as can be seen in the above chart, but with many retailers forced to close and customers being required to stay at home due to lockdowns, the pandemic has seen a clear impact on physical game sales. Digital sales do seem to be a trend for the future, as more gamers ditch shelf space for hard drive space, and subscription services such as PS Plus provide digital games free of charge every month.
Ahmad also states that it's no wonder Sony is releasing a digital-only version of the PS5. If these digital sales stats are anything to go by, it seems physical discs could become a thing of the past, meaning a disc-less PS5 could be very desirable. Many retailers have tried to compete with digital sales by offering exclusive merchandise with physical game pre-orders, but when the PlayStation and Microsoft online stores include in-game content such as DLC or season passes with game purchases, it may not be enough to sway gamers.
Console hardware has also been performing steadily. Stats from Sony have revealed that 112.3 million PS4 units have been shipped, which is an incredible achievement over seven years. These sales have declined slightly, likely due to the upcoming PS5 release, and to cater to the expected increase in demand for the next-generation console, Sony has increased manufacturing in order to meet the holiday 2020 release date.