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After a slow couple of years due to supply constraints, PlayStation 5 is now selling like hotcakes. Sony have today announced that their flagship console has shipped 38 million units since launch. Q1 2023 was particularly impressive. During these three months, sales of PlayStation 5 reached 6.3 million, which is the best quarter for any console in history.
Despite this, the sales of software remain weak according to industry analysts. Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda states via Bloomberg that "the momentum of software, the lucrative part of the game business, remains weak".
"This shows PlayStation users are not buying new games,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Toyo Securities.
Monthly active PlayStation network users were also down to 108 million from 112 million that was recorded in the holiday quarter, which is somewhat expected given that Holiday period is usually the busiest for video game releases.
Furthermore, PS Plus subscriber numbers were slightly up at 47.4 million. Despite weaker software sales and engagement, there's no reason for concern as analysts say it takes time for the increased hardware sales to translate into greater engagement.
Given that Sony don't have any major releases lined up for the next quarter, it's safe to say that video game sales could stay lower despite some major third-party releases like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dead Island 2 and more.
Last but not least, Sony didn't even mention PSVR 2 during their earnings call, which probably says enough on its own. It's been reported previously that the company is lowering the production targets of the VR device after poor pre-order numbers.
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