Sony has confirmed total PS5 shipments of 93.7 million units worldwide, disclosed in its fourth-quarter financial results for fiscal year 2025, covering the three months ended March 31, 2026. The PlayStation 5 shifted 1.5 million units in that period, down from 2.4 million in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year.
The PS5 launched in November 2020. Over five and a half years on sale, cumulative PS5 shipments remain behind the PlayStation 4‘s lifetime figure of 117.2 million units. Sony has maintained positive hardware margins through the current cycle, supporting a large user base through software and subscription services.
PS5 shipments pace and PlayStation Network figures
Monthly active users on PlayStation Network reached 125 million as of March 31, 2026, up one million year-on-year. The figure covers both PS5 and PS4 users, as Sony does not break it down by console generation. PSN engagement metrics have taken on greater weight in Sony’s financial reporting as the company grows its digital services revenue.
Combined PS5 and PS4 software unit sales for the quarter totaled 74.6 million, down 1.5 million from the same period last year. First-party titles contributed 5.8 million of those units, fractionally below the 5.9 million reported in the prior-year quarter.
Digital downloads made up 85 percent of full game software sales during the quarter, five percentage points higher than a year earlier. Physical retail now accounts for just 15 percent of PlayStation game sales by volume, based on Sony’s reported figures.
Even as PS5 shipments slow on a quarterly basis, the move toward digital has strengthened Sony’s revenue per unit sold. Digital sales carry higher margins than physical retail, and the five-point year-on-year gain in digital share points to a structural shift in how PlayStation users buy games.
Next-generation platform investment in Sony’s outlook
Sony’s fiscal year 2026 forecast projects operating income to remain essentially flat year-on-year. The company cited increased investment in next-generation platforms as the cause, a line item that did not appear as a standalone factor in its guidance a year ago. Sony did not name a specific product or commit to a timeline for any announcement.
Sony expects PS5 hardware profitability for fiscal year 2026 to hold broadly in line with fiscal year 2025. The company said sales projections will depend on its capacity to procure memory at reasonable prices, a supply-side factor it has flagged in several recent quarterly reports.
With PS5 shipments plateauing and next-generation development costs now visible in Sony’s operating income guidance, the company appears to be in a deliberate transition phase. The investment is large enough to affect annual operating income at the group level. Sony has not named the product or given any indication of when it will launch.