In previous weeks we have told you that Sony had very high expectations regarding the next sales report of the PS5. In fact, a report from the firm Circana (formerly NPD) had already told us that the most recent quarter was the best for the console since its launch, at least in the United States. Now, however, Sony itself has revealed the commercial performance of the PlayStation 5 during its most recent fiscal quarter, and it couldn’t be better for them.
According to your datain the last fiscal quarter of 2022 —between January 1 and March 31, 2023— managed to sell 6.3 million units, a surprising figure that exceeds our own forecast of 5.2 million. In fact, the PS5 has just been awarded a new record: that of the best-selling console in history during the first three months of a calendar -non-fiscal- year.
The above makes it clear to us that Sony has managed to solve all the problems that prevented the PS5 from being a success since its launch. We must remember that the console was released in November 2020, but for many months the company could not meet the demand for various factors. First, the pandemic, which caused the closure of the Asian production chain. Then, the shortage of components, which affected the entire technology industry.
In the United States and Europe, the most important markets for PlayStation, it was still impossible to find a PS5 in the middle of the previous year. However, Sony managed to overcome and, in the second half of 2022, the picture improved significantly. The shortage was left behind and those in Japan were finally able to meet the enormous global demand for their console.
Sony mentions that, So far, 38.4 million PS5s have been soldof which 19.1 (half) belong only to fiscal year 2022. Even more important, they believe that this sales pace will continue until reaching 63.4 million consoles sold by March 2024.
If the above is true, the PS5 is on the right track to surpass its predecessor, the PlayStation 4, which boasts more than 120 million units sold to date.
At Sony they can also be happy with the distribution of software. In the last quarter of fiscal year 2022, 70.5 million copies were sold, thus exceeding the 68 million in the same period of the previous year. For his part, PlayStation Plus already has 108 million users
These extraordinary numbers, of course, have benefited Sony’s coffers. They had one of the best years in their history thanks to the momentum of the PS5. The company generated benefits of $8.9 billion in fiscal year 2022a new record for the Japanese entity.
Sony is confident that the PS5 will continue to be popular. This is mainly due to its strategy for launching exclusive games. The next June 22 will see the light Final Fantasy XVIand it is expected that in the last months of the year we will be able to enjoy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2another guaranteed best seller.
