Buy games: The Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 heralded the new generation and while it can still sometimes feel like a relatively new era, the fact is it's been almost three years already, while we're still getting used to some new standards. Such new standards include the pricing for this gen's games, which have increased. Nowdays many new games, especially triple-A ones, launch at a price of $70 or £70 minus a cent or penny, respectively.
But according to some data, this $69.99 price point could be negatively impacting game unit sales. The data comes from Sony and therefore applies to the PS5's game unit sales more specifically, but it's revealing how the shift in price could be affecting consumer behaviour this gen. In a deep dive, Tweaktown observed that while Sony is generating record-breaking revenues from PS4 and PS5 console sales, and that software revenues were equally at an all-time high, actual game unit sales had dropped substantially.
Records broken: Sony's latest earnings report has arrived, and in it are new sales numbers for the PlayStation 5. In short, the console is performing exceptionally well. The system shipped another 6.3 million units during the January-March period to push the PS5's total to 38.4 million to date.
According to reports, that's the most consoles than any company has ever shipped in a January-March quarter, beating all figures from past PlayStation consoles, as well as Xbox and Nintendo. As Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis suggests, though, there is key difference between systems shipped and systems sold. Regardless, it's a huge result. PlayStation 5 reached its 19 million sales target for the full fiscal year, ending with 19.1 million shipped during the fiscal year.
Liver service: Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed last year that it’s planning to have 12 live service titles in the market by its fiscal year ending in March 2026 – up from three during its previous business year.
This marks a significant pivot for the platform holder, which is best known for its blockbuster single-player games like God of War and The Last of Us (which it says it will continue to create alongside online projects).
Speaking to GI.biz, Hulst claimed that even though SIE has a significant number of live service games planned for the coming years, that doesn’t mean they’ll all be modelled on Fortnite or Destiny.
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