PlayStation 4 just hit yet another remarkable sales milestone. Sony’s latest financial results show the console has sold-in 110.4 million units since its 2013 launch. In Fiscal Year 2019/2020 alone, which ended on March 31, 2020, the system moved 13.6 million units. During that same time frame, more than 245 million units of software were shifted. Most interesting is that for the first time, digital sales exceeded those of the physical variety. The data shows that during Fiscal Year 2019/2020, 51 percent of the 245 million software sales were digital.
Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel Ahmad compiled the data from Sony’s financial results. He shared his findings in the following tweet:
Lifetime sell in for the PlayStation 4 is now 110.4 million.
Sony shipped 13.6 million units in FY2019/20, down from 17.8m in the prior year.
Sony has not provided a forecast for FY2020/21, but is expected to be lower. pic.twitter.com/deffOX0tJP
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 13, 2020
The shift towards more digital sales is outlined below:
Sony sold in 245 million units of software in FY2019/20, down slightly from 257.6 million last year, as expected.
However what is notable is that 51% of full game sales were via digital download in FY19/20, compared to 37% in FY18/19.
In Jan-Mar 2020 digital ratio was 66%! pic.twitter.com/o2jTaKRbhG
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 13, 2020
In terms of its online services, Sony didn’t earn as much revenue compared to Fiscal Year 2018/2019, evidenced by a 14 percent year-on-year decrease. However, earnings-wise, that segment of the business still performed quite well. Such success primarily seems due to the rise in PlayStation Plus subscriptions, which now top 41.5 million users.
Sony reported FY 2019/20 Game & Network Services revenues of 1,977.6 billion yen, down 14% YoY.
The decrease was driven by lower PS4 hardware and software sales compared to the prior year (end of lifecycle), partially offset by increase in PS+ sales.
2nd best year on record. pic.twitter.com/acbOl6LvBG
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 13, 2020
Despite a decrease in sales overall, the PS4 is still trucking along nicely. As of September 30, 2019, the system had surpassed 102.8 million in sales, making it the second best-selling console after the PlayStation 2.
[Source: Daniel Ahmad on Twitter]
