Sony's PlayStation Division Recorded Strong Growth, but the Outlook Remains Cautious
– 2 min read
PlayStation continues to generate more revenue and operating income for Sony than any other division, with operating profit up by 43 per cent. However, Sony remains cautious and expects a decline in sales, although new games are expected to boost operating profit.
Sony has announced its results for the 2024 financial year (from April 2024 to the end of March 2025). The Game & Network Services division, responsible for the PlayStation business, generated sales of Yen 4.67 trillion (€28.63 billion), marking a 9 per cent increase (Yen 402.3 billion; €2.47 billion) compared to the previous year, with 42 per cent of this increase attributable to the impact of foreign exchange rates. Operating profit amounted to Yen 414.8 billion (€2.52 billion), marking a 43 per cent increase compared to the previous year. This was driven by sales of non-first-party software, including add-on content, as well as higher revenues from network services. However, fewer consoles and first-party games were sold.
In its forecast for fiscal year 2025 (April 2025 to the end of March 2026), Sony expects sales to decline by eight per cent to Yen 4.3 trillion (€26.36 billion). This is mainly due to expected declines in console sales (possibly influenced by the postponement of GTA 6 to May 2026) and negative exchange rate effects. However, Sony Interactive Entertainment expects an increase in sales of first-party game software titles, including Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding 2 and Marathon, as well as non-first-party titles and add-on content. Operating profit, on the other hand, is expected to rise by almost 16 per cent.
From April 2024 to March 2025, Sony sold 18.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles worldwide. This was a decrease of 2.3 million (from 20.8 million) compared to the previous year. No information was provided on sales of the PlayStation 5 Pro or PlayStation VR2. In total, 77.8 million PS5 consoles have now been sold since its launch, which is slightly behind the number of PlayStation 4 consoles sold in the same period.
In fiscal year 2024, 303.3 million full games were sold - just under six per cent more than the previous year - but of these, only 9.5 per cent (28.9 million) were first-party games. 76 percent of full games sold were digital, compared to 70 percent in the previous year. By the end of the reporting period, the number of monthly active users on the PlayStation Network had increased to 124 million (compared to 118 million in the previous Q4).
The PlayStation division accounted for 36 percent of Sony Group Corporation's total revenue, with no other division generating more. The Game & Network Services division accounted for 29.5 per cent of operating income. No other Sony division achieved a higher operating income during the reporting period. The company as a whole posted a net income of 1.141 trillion yen (~€7 billion) attributable to Sony Group Corporation's stockholders, which is an increase of 18 per cent. However, sales fell by 0.5 per cent to 12.957 trillion yen (€79.44 billion). Sony also plans to spin off its Financial Services Unit.
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