Sony sold only 1.5 million PS5 consoles in its recent fourth fiscal quarter, down 46 percent year over year. The decline in PS5 sales comes after Sony raised the price of its PS5 console twice last year, increasing the price of the regular PS5 from $499.99 to $649.99.
Sony attributed the price hike in March to “continued pressures in the global economic landscape”, amid the pressures of the ongoing memory crisis and war in Iran. Sony now estimates that annual gaming revenue will decline by 6 percent, but these forecasts may be affected by ongoing memory costs. Sony says, “We plan to scale our PS5 hardware sales in fiscal 2026 based on the amount of memory that can be purchased at a reasonable price and we expect hardware profitability to be essentially similar to fiscal 2025.”
Sony previously revealed in February that it had secured the “minimum required quantity” of memory to manage the year-end shopping season and that it is “working with various suppliers to ensure adequate supply to meet our customers’ demand.” For the entire 2025 fiscal year, Sony will sell 16 million PS5 consoles, down from 18.5 million in the previous fiscal year.
It’s a tough market for hardware in general right now. Microsoft recently revealed that its Xbox hardware revenue declined by 33 percent year over year. Along with the decline in Xbox hardware revenue, Microsoft also reported a 5 percent decline in Xbox content and services. Nintendo is also raising the price of its Switch 2 by $50 on September 1 and anticipating a decline in sales next year.
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