By Sagar V. Mankar Sony’s gaming division, PlayStation, has reported a strong performance in the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year (July to September 2024).
Despite setbacks with its ambitious game Concord and a decline in hardware sales, PlayStation saw an increase in both revenue and profitability, largely due to third-party titles.
Key Highlights:
- Revenue reaches 1,071.5 billion yen (approx. $7 billion), a significant 12% increase year-over-year.
- Profitability also tripled, reaching 138.8 billion yen (around $911 million), up 184% compared to the same period last year.
- Full-Year Forecast: increased by 4% from the previous forecast to 4,490 billion yen.
Hits and Miss
The positive results were driven by several factors, including an increase in sales of non-first-party games, add-on content (such as microtransactions), as well as a boost from network services like PlayStation Plus. The impact of favorable foreign exchange rates also contributed to the revenue growth.
However, the company’s flagship PlayStation 5 console continued to see a decline in sales, with 3.8 million units shipped during the quarter, down 29% compared to the same period in the previous year. Sony recently acknowledged that the PS5 is now in the second half of its life cycle, with a total of 65.5 million units shipped to date.
While the PS5 sales slowed, Sony highlighted several notable game releases that helped drive the division’s performance. Specifically, the company mentioned “a new sports title” (likely referring to EA Sports FC 25) and “an action RPG title from China” – a clear reference to the phenomenal success of Black Myth: Wukong as reported by VGC.
Black Myth: Wukong, developed by the Chinese studio Game Science, launched on August 19 and sold an astonishing 20 million copies in just two weeks across PC and PS5, reportedly generating over $1 billion in revenue. This places the game among the fastest-selling titles of all time, alongside blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
However, Sony’s gaming division also faced some notable setbacks during the quarter. Concord, a live-service hero shooter from the Sony-owned Firewalk Studios, launched on August 23 but quickly faltered, with the game being taken offline just two weeks after release due to disastrously low player numbers. The failure of Concord ultimately led to the closure of Firewalk Studios.
In contrast, Sony’s in-house title Astro Bot, which debuted during the same quarter, managed to sell 1.5 million copies. Notably, 37% of the users who purchased Astro Bot had not bought a first-party title from the studio in the last two years, demonstrating the continued appeal of the PlayStation-exclusive platformer.
Going forward, Sony has acknowledged the need to learn from both its successes and failures, particularly in the realm of live-service game development and management.
The company plans to continue investing in a balanced portfolio that combines the proven appeal of single-player games with the potential upside of live-service titles, while also striving to optimize the timing and deployment of its content across platforms.
Starting with “Ghost of Yōtei,” a sequel to the hit “Ghost of Tsushima,” major single-player game titles are planned for release every year from the next fiscal year onwards.
The studio business anticipates a decline in sales and profits in the second half of this fiscal year compared to the same period last year, when “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” and “Helldivers 2” were major hits.