While the quarter seemed rather calm, if not marked by the life and death of Concord, which content creators did not fail to insistently qualify as the biggest failure in the history of humanity, PlayStation recorded results more than flattering (probably too much for the thousand employees the company has laid off in 2024). A turnover of 6.5 billion euros and above all an operating profit of 842.6 million euros (a new record for a July-September quarter) illustrate the good form of a manufacturer making progress in almost all the measurement criteria. Almost, because PS5 sales peaked in 2023 and are therefore now expected to decline systematically compared to the previous year.
That being said, with 3.8 million PS5s distributed between July and September 2024, the console is making up for the disappointment of the previous quarter (2.4 million) and even compares well with the 3.9 million that the PS4 recorded. at the same stage of its existence. However, the PS4 had big advantages: a price of 300 euros and a PS4 Pro already released for only 100 euros more. This solid performance therefore allows the installed base of PS5 to reach 65.5 million, behind by 2 million if we compare with the PS4 at the same stage. The manufacturer delivered 6.2 million consoles halfway through the fiscal year, which means that it must find a way to sell 11.8 million between October 2024 and March 2025 to reach the objective of 18 million. In terms of big money, PlayStation has revised its annual objectives upwards for the second consecutive quarter and is now banking on a record turnover of 27.2 billion euros and an operating profit of 2.1 billion euros .
Sony explains that the growth in quarterly results is due to factors such as increased sales of third-party games and additional content, the favorable impact of exchange rates and increased sales of PlayStation Plus subscriptions (more precisely the growth of Extra and Premium formulas). Management specifically mentioned the impact of “a new sports game” and “an action-RPG from China”, no doubt referring to EA Sports College Football 25 for one and Black Myth: Wukong for the other. Two cultures, two genres, two huge boxes.
As for its own games, Sony is forced to recognize that the disappointments keep coming in the department of games in continuous service (ConcordThe Last of Us Online or even the new license from London Studio). If Helldivers 2 is doing like a charm, Sony says it wants to learn from its successes as well as its failures, and its medium-term objective is to find the right balance between single-player games and continuous service games. “ We intend to build an optimal portfolio of titles during the period of our medium-term plan, which combines single-player games, which are our strong point and which have a higher probability of becoming hits thanks to our proven licenses, with games in continuous service that offer growth potential while taking some risk at launch commented CEO Hiroki Totoki.
If PS5 sales started to slow down starting this year, game sales are there to compensate. 77.7 million PS5 games were sold between July and September, compared to 67.6 million a year earlier. Overall, PlayStation Studios games represent 5.3 million sales, compared to 4.7 million a year earlier. If it is an understatement to say that Concord was not the second success of the service game hoped for after Helldivers 2Astro Bot, on the other hand, won hearts with 1.5 million copies sold to consumers as of November 3, 2024. All games combined, the share of download sales was 70% over the quarter compared to 66% a year earlier. PlayStation claims 116 million monthly active users. This is as much as three months ago and more than last year at this time (107 million). Finally, users' playing time increased by 14% compared to last year.
- Also read | Astro Bot sold 1.5 million copies in 58 days
