Sony Sold 9.5 Million PlayStation 5s in Console’s Best-Ever Quarter

PlayStation delivered a surprisingly strong quarter for Sony, with 9.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles sold, its best quarter ever, and much higher than expectations. Sony has now sold 75 million PlayStation 5 consoles overall, putting it neck-and-neck with the PlayStation 4 at the same point in its lifecycle.

Sony reported that it earned a net income of ¥375,572 (about $4.5 billion) on revenues of ¥4,409,574 (about $28.7 billion) in the quarter ending December 31, 2025. Those figures represent gains of 2 percent and 15 percent year-over-year (YOY), respectively.

Sony’s Game & Network Services is its biggest business by far, and it was a highlight of the quarter, with revenues of ¥1,682,330 (about $11 billion), a gain of 16.5 percent YOY. Operating profits were even stronger: ¥118,063 (~$769 million), a gain of 37 percent YOY.

As noted, Sony sold 9.5 million PS5 consoles in the quarter, up from 8.2 million in the year-ago quarter. An incredible 40 percent of buyers were new to PlayStation. Sony also pointed that, though the PS5 is pricier than its predecessor, total unit sales are at “essentially the same level as the cumulative unit sales of PS4 for the same period of time since launch.” This was the first quarter to include PS4 Pro sales, but Sony did not provide unit sales numbers for individual models.

Sony also reported that it now has 129 million monthly active users (MAUs) across PlayStation platforms, an increase of 5 percent YOY, and an all-time record. Total play time is up 2 percent YOY. PlayStation Plus revenues were up 20 percent YOY in the quarter. And there are now over 120 titles in the cloud streaming library in PlayStation Portal (Sony’s take on Xbox Cloud Gaming).

Thanks to the unexpected success this quarter, Sony has revised its estimates for full fiscal year PS5 sales (Sony’s fiscal year ends on March 31) upward to 18 million. Its shipped 15.7 million PS5s so far this fiscal year.