Sony Group announced its financial results for Q3 2023 this morning, revealing that PS5 sales have reached nearly 55 million units worldwide. During the last quarter, 8.2 million PS5s were shipped, bringing the lifetime total to 54.8 million units as of December 31, 2023.
PS5 sales slightly trailing behind PS4 sales
At present, PS5 sales are trailing behind PS4 sales on a time aligned basis by about 2.3 million units. Revenue generated by the PlayStation division set a new record for a third quarter, sitting at $10.2 billion (up 15.87% year-on-year). However, Sony did struggle to maintain an operating profit, which fell a whopping 25.9% year-on-year, highlighting a growing need for Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) to cut its costs.
To that effect, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki (also SIE chairman) has said that he’s looking into PlayStation’s profit margins. He highlighted the need to communicate with the gaming division to adopt a “harmonized” approach going forward, which makes room for overall growth and sustainability without compromising on quality.
“Overall growth and sustainable profitability for increasing margins… how will that translate to these goals? I don’t think people understand that deeply,” Totoki said of SIE. “I think that is the problem of the organization.”
