Sony reported its third-quarter 2021 results, and in its gaming and network services division, where PlayStation is located, the company reported a year-on-year decline in revenue to 813.3 billion yen ($7.1 billion), compared with 883.2 billion yen ($7.7) a year earlier. . billion) in the same period last year.
Part of the decline was due to a decline in hardware sales as a semiconductor shortage hampered PS5 production.
In the third quarter, PS5 shipped 3.9 million units, and lifetime shipments reached 17.3 million units, while PS4 sold 20.2 million units in the same period. The company originally estimated that PS5 shipments would reach 22.6 million units by March 31, 2022, but that figure has been revised.
Constraints on parts supply are expected to continue moving forward, with Sony saying it will continue to “make every effort” to meet strong demand for the PS5.
In terms of user engagement, the company noticed a 20% year-over-year decline in user playtime in December. In the third quarter, which again ended December 31, 2021, the company reported game sales of 92.7 million units. Of these, 11.3 million were first-party games. Compared to the same period in 2020, it was down 11%; however, this can be attributed to very few major game releases in a quarter, so Sony believes this is still a solid performance.
Digital game sales accounted for 62% of sales, up 9% from a year earlier.
For the current quarter ended March 31, the company expects user engagement to increase further as major first-party games Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 are released.
Moving on to PlayStation Plus, it now has 48 million subscribers, up from the 47.4 million reported last year. The entire PlayStation Network has 111 million monthly active users (MAU).
