Sony announced that it sold just 2 million PlayStation 5 units last quarter (Q4), bringing its overall total to 19.3 million. That’s down considerably from the same quarter last year when in sold 3.3 million units. The company did manage to boost game sales, though, with 70.5 million PS4/PS5 titles sold compared to 61.4 million a year ago, including 14.5 million first party games compared to 7.9 million in Q3.
Overall, its Game & Network Services (GSN) division earned 665 billion yen ($5.1 billion) this quarter, up slightly over last year. Sales for the full 2021 year were flat, up just 2 percent over 2020, and profits also changed little.
Those numbers mean that the PS5 is falling even further behind the PS4 in sales, having now sold 3.1 million fewer units than the PS4 at the same point in time. Sony warned that this was coming, blaming the lack of sales not on customer demand but its inability to build enough units due to the ongoing chip shortage.
The good news is that Sony expects things to perk up quickly. It forecast a 34 percent increase in sales next quarter to 929 billion yen ($7.13 billion) due to better parts supply and higher sales of third-party games. Sony is also launching PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium, its take on Xbox Game pass, in June. While PS Plus subscriber levels were flat, the new tiers could help draw subscribers next quarter and beyond.
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