If Microsoft is no longer revealing the number of Xbox consoles it’s selling every quarter, Sony revealed yesterday with its Q3 FY2020 results that it had sold 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles by the end of December. This matches the 4.5 million PlayStation 4 units the company sold in the same quarter back in 2013, and Sony said that it will “continue to do everything in our power to ship as many units as possible to customers.”
The Japanese company expects to reach over 7.6 million PS5 units shipped by the end of its fiscal year in March. Interestingly, Sony also confirmed that “strategic price points for PS5 hardware (that) were set lower than the manufacturing costs,” though that didn’t prevent the company’s games and networks service segment to break records with gaming revenue being up 40% year-over-year at 883.2 billion yen ($8.43 billion).
The PS5 is being sold at a loss, yet Sony's game segment increased its operating income 50% YoY.
The reason for this is its highly profitable software and network services sales.
This was a record quarter for network sales (PS+, Full Game Downloads, DLC / Add on Content). pic.twitter.com/SIKSyWpJ48
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 3, 2021
The company also announced that gameplay time in December was approximately up 30% year-over-year, with 114 million PlayStation Network active users and 47.4 million PlayStation Plus subscribers in the past quarter. PlayStation exclusive games also continue to sell very well, with the launch PS5 title Spiderman: Miles Morales selling 4.1 million units at the end of last year.
Microsoft’s also announced record gaming revenue in its latest fiscal earnings report last month, with Xbox content and services revenue increasing 40% year-over-year. Moreover, the software giant also said that Xbox Game Pass has now crossed 18 million subscribers, with over 100 million monthly active users for its Xbox Live network across Xbox, PC, and mobile. That’s a little less than Sony’s 114 million PSN active users, though keep in mind that Sony now has a 115.1 million PS4 install base plus 4.5 million customers who got their hands on a PS5 in the past quarter.
