Sony revealed that it sold a whopping 4.5 million PS5 consoles during its launch, boosting its sales figures to make 2020-2021 Sony's most profitable year in its Games & Network division.
Sony's published financial results showcased the company earned 883.2 billion yen ($8.4 billion/£6.1 billion) in revenue in its latest quarter, which is an increase of 40% compared to its 2019 earnings. This not only makes it Sony's best quarter for its Games & Network division but all its best financial year from 2020/2021.
What's puzzling is that Sony stated, "strategic price points for PS5 hardware were set lower than the manufacturing costs." This means the PS5 was actually sold for less than what it costs to manufacture.
However, this balanced out due to software revenue, as services such as PlayStation Plus were boosted to 47.4 million subscribers during the third quarter, a big increase from last year's 38.3 million.
Senior analyst at Niko Partners, Daniel Ahmad, posted charts comparing the Sony game division's earnings.
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Here is the same chart as above but for profit. FY20/21 will also be Sony's most profitable year for games ever. Primarily driven by strong software and network services sales, which are high margin. Sony has broken the cyclical profit / loss aspect of the console industry. pic.twitter.com/3kLBeADjitFebruary 3, 2021
Sony selling 4.5 million PS5 consoles during its launch quarter means it's on par with the best-selling console of all time, the PS2, as it also sold 4.5 million units. Could the PS5 be on track to do the same? Well, it certainly won't only be because of fans.
It can be jarring to think these many PS5 consoles were sold, yet not many gamers actually have their hands on it. Scalpers and bots seem to be the main customers, and if they continue buying out next-gen consoles, PS5 sales will surely continue soaring, albeit not for the right reasons.
If you do get the chance to buy a PS5, make sure you make the right decision: the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition.
