PlayStation celebrates its ‘best year ever’ with 7.8m PS5s shipped

Playstation has had its best-ever financial year, with Sony reporting they have already shipped 7.8 million PS5 units.

That means the PS5 has surpassed the PS4’s performance in these early days, with the PS4 shipping 7.6 million units in the same timeframe. However, the PS5 did launch in more territories than its predecessor, which arrived in countries such as Japan months after the US and Europe.

Sony’s Game & Network Services segment, which includes the PlayStation, reported revenue of $24.4 billion for the fiscal year.

This was Sony's best year ever for its Game & Network services division.

The Game & Network Services segment reported revenue of $24.4 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.

The increase was due to strong software and services sales + PS5 launch impact. pic.twitter.com/MBmXo9p47H

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 28, 2021

For the current financial year, Sony said that it expects an even better performance from Game & Network Services in terms of revenue, but less profit. Sales are expected to increase 9 per cent due to an increase in hardware unit sales, but a decrease is expected in non-first party titles and DLC.

Of course, the 2020 figures will be a tough comparison for the industry as a whole, with revenues across the industry being boosted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Sony's game division operating income dragged down by 'loss resulting from strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than the manufacturing costs'

Standard practice at the start of a console cycle. Improved content & services rev help smooth over the impact pic.twitter.com/jKNQu0oLQV

— Piers Harding-Rolls (@PiersHR) April 28, 2021

Sony also expects to see an increase in costs, mostly due to game development. However, it expects increased revenues from first party titles, and an improvement in hardware profitability, since the PS5 is currently being sold at a loss.