Sony's newest console has spent the last year and some change on the market selling at record speed despite the semiconductor shortage that has plagued the gaming industry since 2020. Being such a sought-after item however, has left many would-be PS5 players without a new console and no means of getting one, as it sells out within a matter of seconds after being put on sale. In the face of all of this, Sony has still managed to sell 17.3 million PS5 consoles since November 2020. However, it is no longer the fastest-selling PlayStation console, as the PS4 had sold 20.2 million by this same point in time.
Sony has reported that sales were down compared to the same Q3 period of its previous fiscal year, wherein it moved 4.5 million PS5 systems. The publisher reckons the chip shortage shows no signs of change within its next fiscal year and that supply issues will continue as they have. However, Sony is assuming that when chips ramp up production again, future quarters will be churning out record sales numbers for PlayStation consoles. Despite sales of PS5 consoles slowing down because of chip shortages the console did manage to outsell the Wii U's entire lifetime sales in just the span of one year, which is impressive for the PS5, not so much for the Wii U.
As a result of these sales, Sony has in fact lowered its expectations and overall forecast of PS5 shipments for the next fiscal year to 11.5 million units, down from its previously forecasted 14.8 million. Sony's projections for its full-year revenue estimates of the company's games and network division also put its expectations at around $1.48 billion in revenue.
On the PS4 front, the console has moved 200,000 units during Q3 2021 bringing its lifetime total sales to 116.8 million. 92.7 million games were sold across PS4 and PS5 during Q3, 11.3 million of those games being published by Sony itself. The PS Store recorded its second-biggest quarterly revenue-earning with the news that 62% of the 92.7 million games sold were digital copies. 111 million people were active during the quarter, and each spent on average $42.37.
In addition to its quarterly earnings, Sony recently announced its plans to launch at least 10 live-service games across PS4 and PS5 by March 2026. No doubt this charge into the live-service space will be helped enormously by the people over at Bungie, which Sony now owns for $3.6 billion.
Source: ResetEra