Today Sony announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2022, related to the period between January 1 and March 31, 2022, providing an update on PS5 shipments.
The house of PlayStation revealed that it has shipped 6.3 million PS5 units during the quarter, bringing the grand total up to 38.4 million units. This is the second-best quarter in terms of unit sales for the console, beaten only by the previous quarter, which included the holiday season.
This also means that 19.1 million units were shipped during the whole fiscal year, nailing the recently upgraded 19 million target.
Below you can find the presentation slides showcasing the performance of the "Games & Network Services" segment of Sony's business, which includes PlayStation and the PlayStation Network.
We learn that sales for the segment in the whole fiscal year (between April 2022 and March 2023) were 904 billion yen and significantly increased year-on-year (up 33%) due to larger shipments of hardware and first-party games, only partly offset by lower sales of third-party games including add-on content.
Operating income decreased significantly (by 28%) year-on-year to 96.1 billion yen due to higher game development costs and the recording of expenses for acquisitions including Bungie, on top of lower third-party software sales. This was partly offset by higher shipments of first-party games and the fact that the PS5 is now sold at a smaller loss compared to the previous year due to production cost savings.
For the current fiscal year (between April 2023 and March 2024), Sony expects hardware and peripheral sales to increase further leading to a further 7% year-on-year increase in revenue. Additional improvements in hardware profitability and higher peripheral sales are expected to improve operating income by 8% year-on-year, albeit partly offset by lower shipments of first-party games.
Further official documents reveal that PlayStation Plus subscribers were at 47.4 million as of March 31 (flat year-on-year and up from the previous quarter), while PlayStation Network had 108 million monthly active users.
Lastly, we take a quick look at Sony's performance as a whole company. Sales for the full year were up 16% while operating income was essentially flat. For the sole Q4, sales were up 35% year-on-year, but operating income was down 7%.
As for the forecast for the current fiscal year, Sony expects sales to be essentially flat, while operating income is expected to be down 3%.
If you'd like to compare the data with historical figures, you can take a look at our article specific to the announcement for the previous quarter, shared in February.
