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Sony has shifted its focus away from selling PlayStation 5 consoles at a breakneck pace. Speaking to investors, Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki said the company is in the “lucky situation” of not having to drive hardware sales for the PS5 because it’s already halfway through its lifecycle.
“We have several millions of players within our ecosystem,” Totoki told the Wall Street Journal. “Our focus now is on how to continuously create value for those players who use our platforms.”
Totoki’s comments come from a broader interview with the WSJ about inflation and console lifecycles. Totoki says memory costs are up 50%, while the PlayStation team has seen their focus shift as the console generation has aged.
While PlayStation would still like to grow its userbase by selling more consoles, it’s no longer solely focused on that metric. Instead, it wants to focus on generating more recurring revenue from existing PlayStation users.
PlayStation users can generate recurring revenue in a number of ways. On top of buying physical and digital games, they can spend money on PlayStation Plus subscriptions, DLC, add-ons, and live-service games.
That strategy should allow Sony to continue growing its gaming division as PS5 sales inevitably slow down in the console’s later years. PlayStation launched the PS5 in November 2022. Unless Sony launches the PS6 in the next couple of years, it’s unlikely we’ll see first-party PS5 games much past late 2027.
As of June 30th, 2026, Sony says it’s shipped over 95 million PS5 consoles. While not all of those consoles are active, they do give Sony a massive PlayStation userbase to sell digital games and subscriptions to.
Sony also said PlayStation had 125 million monthly active users as of June 20latest stats show. While that userbase includes PS5 owners, it’s likely not every account represents a PS5 owner.
Instead, those 125 million users represent the entirety of the PlayStation ecosystem including the PS4 and previous generations. Totoki points out that Sony can continue to create value by finding ways to get those 125 million PlayStation users to spend money on PlayStation games and services.
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