PS5 experiences record sales during holiday period, PlayStation revenues reach $11bn

Sony has published its financial results for the nine months ending December 31, 2024, which saw growth across the board but especially during the holiday period.

The platform holder saw major increases in revenue in its Games & Network Services segment, with the PS5 experiencing its best quarter so far. The firm has increased its sales forecasts for PlayStation as a result.

Here's what you need to know:

The numbers:

For the nine months ended December 31, 2024

Sales: ¥10.3 trillion ($66.9 billion, up 8.2% year-on-year) Operating income: ¥1.2 trillion ($7.8 billion, up 22.9%)

Games & network services

Sales: ¥3.6 trillion ($23.4 billion, up 13.8%) Operating income: ¥322.1 billion ($2.1 billion, up 74.8%)

The highlights:

Sony shipped 9.5 million PS5 units over the holiday period (Q3) compared to last year. This total includes sales of the PlayStation Pro, which launched in November 2024.

The holiday season proved to be the best quarter for the PS5 so far, with the firm noting that it was "essentially the same level as the cumulative sales for the PS4 for the same period since launch."

Across the nine months ended December 2024, the PS5 shipped 15.7 million units. When you consider the Q1 calendar sales, 20.2 million units were moved in 2024.

By the end of the third quarter, the number of monthly active users grew to 129 million – up from 123 million compared to December 2023 – marking the highest number of MAUs in PS history. The total play time also increased by 2% YoY during Q3, resulting in a seventh consecutive year of YoY growth.

Over 40% of consumers who bought a PS5 during the holiday period were new to the console, which "contributed substantially" to MAU growth.

Full game sales were 95.9 million during the third quarter, with 11.6 million being first-party titles. While full game sales increased from 89.7 million sold in the same period last year, first-party sales dropped from 16.2 million.

During its earnings call, Sony highlighted the success of Astro Bot and Helldivers 2 – two first-party titles released in September and August 2024 respectively.

Astro Bot sold 1.5 million units after 58 days on the market, while Helldivers 2 sold 12 million units (combined PS and PC sales) after 87 days on the market.

Noting the success both games achieved at numerous awards ceremonies, Sony said: "The fact that titles in genres we are aiming to expand in the future, including titles for families and live service games, have received [accolades] is a major stride toward our building a broader title portfolio."

The firm said it expects "a further expansion of earnings" for FY2025 following the release of Ghost of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

Overall, Sony saw sales increase by 16% during the holiday quarter for its Game & Network Services segment, reaching ¥1.7 trillion ($11 billion).

Digital game and add-on content sales increased 13.6% YoY to ¥718.2 billion ($4.6 billion), while hardware sales grew nearly 10% to ¥724.7 billion ($4.7 billion).

Network services revenues rose by 29% YoY to ¥176.9 billion ($1.1 billion), with PlayStation Plus sales increasing 20% "mainly due to a shift to higher tiers of service and the impact of price revisions."

Sony has increased its forecasts for the current fiscal year, and is expecting G&NS sales to reach ¥4.6 trillion ($29.9 billion) – up 3% from the previous guidance of ¥4.5 trillion ($29.2 billion) and a 9.5% improvement from ¥4.2 trillion ($27.3 billion) achieved in the last fiscal year.