Sony hikes its gaming outlook as the PS5 hits 75 million total sales

Despite three years of supply issues at the start of its life cycle and increased competition, Sony’s PlayStation 5 is still hot on the heels of the sales pace set by its wildly popular PS4.

Sony released its latest earnings report Thursday, and its gaming revenue climbed 16% to $10.9 billion. Gaming profit surged 37%.

Sony also logged a strong performance from its music business and posted consolidated revenue of $28.6 billion, up 18% from last year. It raised its full-year games and music profit forecasts, propelling shares up nearly 5% in premarket trading.

Sony’s PS5 sold 9.5 million units on the holiday quarter — the first to include its souped-up $700 PS5 Pro, which hit shelves in November. That’s the PS5’s best quarter ever, up about 16% from last year’s holiday season. It brings the PS5’s lifetime total to 75 million units sold.

Though it’s still falling short of the PS4 (the No. 5 bestselling console of all time) at the same point in its life cycle, the quarter brings the PS5’s 2024 calendar year sales to 20.2 million units. That’s more than this year’s combined sales of both the Nintendo Switch (11.5 million units) and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles (roughly 5 million units per estimates).

Sony probably doesn’t have much to worry about with the upcoming Switch 2, due for a release later this year. Most Switch owners, at least in the US, also own one of the higher-powered console offerings from Sony and Microsoft.

Sony is trying to capitalize on its gaming success with a larger push toward movies and shows based on gaming IP. At CES this year, the company said it’s developing movies based on “Helldivers 2” and “Horizon Zero Dawn.” It also has a “God of War” show in the works with Amazon and anime adaptations of other franchises.

It was a rocky year for gaming, but Sony came out better than most despite PlayStation sitting out the 2024-25 fiscal year and not releasing any new installments of its major franchises. This year — PlayStation’s 30th anniversary — looks to be better.

Sony plans to release a sequel to “Ghost of Tsushima,” which, as of September, has sold 13 million copies. Other major third-party franchises (“GTA 6” and “Monster Hunter”) are also expected to move consoles for the entertainment giant.

Entertainment has become Sony’s primary business. It accounted for 60% of the company’s sales last fiscal year, doubling its share from a decade ago.