All Sony executives and also those loyal PlayStation fans should be more than happy with the latest official financial reports released by the company corresponding to Q3 FY 2024 better known as the third quarter of the fiscal year – 2024. Thanks to this report we learned that the PS5, next gen console launched in 2020 has surpassed 70 million units sold in all its versions (Fat, Slim and Pro) around the world positioning it as one of the most popular in history, although it also showed a big drop in the sale of physical games.
PlayStation shares great news in its report, though some news is not so good
The good news does not end there for the executives and their users, since, in addition to announcing that they have sold more than 75 million PS5 units, it was also announced that they reached a peak of 129 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network or PSN. Recall that PSN is a subscription service to Sony’s ecosystem completely free that allows you to create an account in order to have access to certain benefits such as online gaming. However, the service has also been harshly criticized by PC users, since Sony forces them to create an account to enjoy the games that are released on this system such as Helldivers.
These 129 million monthly users are the sum of existing users on consoles and PC and considering that basically the latter are forced to subscribe to PSN, the figure could be somewhat lower.
Something that characterizes both Nintendo and PlayStation, unlike Xbox, is their huge variety and repertoire of “exclusive” video games better known as “First Party”. The console, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in December, has in its possession quality internal studios such as Naughty Dog, responsible for The Last Of Us I and II, Guerrilla for Horizon, Bend for Days Gone or Insomniac for the Marvel’s Spider-Man saga. However, they have finalized temporary or long-term exclusivities with From Software, Square Enix or Shift Up with titles such as Bloodborne, Final Fantasy Rebirth and Stellar Blade.
The exclusivities and its strong catalog of games is another reason for the success in sales of the hardware, in addition to the fact that 95.9 million games have been sold for the PS5, that is, titles from any studio ranging from a multiplatform like EA Sports FC 25 to a temporary exclusive like Silent Hill 2 or Stellar Blade itself. Of this amount, 11.6 million correspond to First Party titles such as Spider-Man 2, the remasters of TLOU I and II or Horizon Zero Dawn, as well as Forbiden West, Gran Turismo 7, Returnal, Ratchet & Clank, God of War: Ragnarok and the 2024 Game of the Year: Astro Bot.
PlayStation shared, as we mentioned, some unwelcome news for fans of physical video games because, according to the report, digital sales are booming. Despite the fact that last February 7 and 8, with the fall of PlayStation Now servers, many discovered that the digital format is not the most convenient, it turns out that 74% of First Party game sales were digital downloads, there is a great trend to this format.
Although many times it is not the users’ fault to choose digital versions, in fact and most of the “new video games” are more expensive when sold in dollars, resulting purchases in digital stores like Amazon more beneficial for anyone. Many game developers, especially “indie” games began to launch their creations to digital stores, forcing the user to acquire it in this format and, at least in the PlayStation digital store, to pay a “tax” unlike the Nintendo eShop or the Xbox store where the tax is included.
This trend towards “digital” is not unique to PlayStation. Across the video game industry, digital sales are gaining ground due to their convenience and ease of access. Gamers value the ability to download games instantly, which means that in dribs and drabs, fans of the physical format will see it disappear.
Sony and PlayStation’s financial results are excellent news for the company and for video game fans, and even symbolize an opportunity for new investors and developers who want to invest time and money in making temporary or permanent games in some ecosystem. Although in 4 years and almost 3 months after its launch, the PS5 is still a console with few First Party games and most of them are remakes or remasters, that does not take away its merit: it is a sales success.
On the other side of the coin, it’s really bad news that the physical format is on the decline, no matter how convenient a digital download might be. Sony will likely continue to invest in exclusive games and online services such as bringing higher quality games to its online service both in catalog and monthly games to keep the PS5’s momentum going, just as Xbox Game Pass does. The biggest area of opportunity for PlayStation is to give it a boost in trying to launch more First Party games, as, so far, only Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei and Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic have been confirmed.
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