PS5 sales approach 40 million but Sony fails to mention how PSVR 2 is performing
Your guess is as good as mine as to how PSVR 2 is doing
Sony has had a fantastic financial quarter, recording annual revenue of $22.7 billion, which is a 35% year-on-year rise.
That’s largely been helped by phenomenal PS5 sales. Sony sold a staggering 19.1 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the financial year, exceeding its own ambitious forecast of 18 million units.
Compare that to the same period last year, when Sony sold 11.5 million PS5 consoles, it’s a 56.5% increase. Clearly, Sony wasn’t lying when it said the PS5 stock shortage was finally over. We’ve seen PS5 outpacing PS4 life-to-date sales in the US and Sony is rapidly approaching 40 million PlayStation 5 consoles sold.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: PS5 sales record
🚀 PS5 consoles continue to fly off the shelves
📈 Sony sold 19.1 million PS5 consoles, a 56.5% increase in the same period last year
🤐 However, it didn’t mention PSVR 2 sales at all
📉 Sony has also said it expects profits to slip despite record PS5 sales
“We can now deliver PlayStation 5 to almost anywhere in the world without keeping our customers waiting,” Sony Group president Hiroki Totoki said at a press briefing after the company announced its results.
Sony wants to sell 25 million PS5 consoles in the current financial year, which would be a record for the PlayStation brand if it manages to achieve this. However, it isn’t all good news.
Not only did Sony expect profits to slip due to weaker financial services sales, PSVR 2, Sony’s virtual reality headset for PS5, wasn’t mentioned at all during its earnings results. You’d think that Sony would be bullish about the PSVR 2’s sales if it was selling well, but reports estimate it fell far short of its two million units target, shifting around 270,000 units instead.
With the PSVR 2 price at $549 and a lack of must-have PSVR 2 games, it’s difficult to see how Sony will change the fortunes of its VR headset anytime soon. I’ve personally questioned “Is PSVR 2 already dead?” after spending two months with the device and concluded that a price cut and more exclusive games will be crucial.
Sony will have been buoyed by the news this week that the CMA, the UK’s competition and markets authority, has blocked Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buyout. Sony has been staunchly against the deal from the outset and really doesn’t want Microsoft to own Call of Duty.