Sony’s Q2 game/network service sales rise 12% to $7.01B

Sony reported its sales for its game and network services division were 1,071.5 billion yen ($7.01 billion) for the second fiscal quarter ended September 30, up 12% from a year ago.

Operating income for the G&NS division was 138.8 billion yen ($908 million), up 2.8 times from a year ago. Much of the improvement comes from sales of third-party games.

Sony said that sales grew because of an increase in third-party game software sales, better foreign exchange rates, an increase in network service sales including its PlayStation Plus online service. This was offset by a decrease in hardware sales.

Operating income grew due to an improvement in the profitability of hardware, an increase in third-party software sales, and higher network service sales.

Sony is now forecasting that its game and network services division will hit 4,490 billion yen ($29.3 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. That is more optimistic than the 4,320 billion yen ($28.2 billion) predicted in August. Operating income is also expected to be higher for the fiscal year for the division by 35 billion yen.

Operating income for the group is expected to be 355 billion yen ($2.3 billion), up from the earlier forecast of 320 billion yen.

Overall, Sony’s sales in the quarter were 2,973.4 billion yen ($19.45 billion), up 9% from a year ago. Sony’s stock price is up 5% in after-hours trading.

Sony had some big titles like Astro Bot, but it also had failures like Concord, which sold so poorly that Sony shut down Firewalk Studios, the game studio that made it. Astro Bot, which debuted on September 6, has sold 1.5 million copies.

Among games, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut on the PS5 and PC — released on May 16, 2024 — sold 9.7 million copies to date. Helldivers 2, made by Arrowhead Game Studios, has sold 12 million copies.

Hardware sales in Q2 were 218.2 billion yen, down from 287.5 billion yen a year earlier. Game software sales were 612.3 billion yen, up from 479.3 billion yen a year earlier. Digital software sales were up at 258.6 billion yen, up from 200.9 billion yen a year earlier.

In the quarter, Sony sold 3.8 million PS5 consoles, down from 4.9 million a year ago. Sony sold 77.7 million games, up from 67.6 million a year ago. First-party game sales were 5.3 million copies, up from 4.7 million a year ago.

On the PlayStation Network, the monthly active users were 116 million, up from 107 million a year ago.

Back in January, Sony said it had sold 50 million PlayStation 5 consoles. That sounds like a lot, but it’s not nearly as much as the PlayStation 4, which has sold more than 117 million units as of October 2024. Sony did not update its cumulative total.

Back in May, PlayStation leader Jim Ryan retired and he was replaced by two executives. Hideaki Nishino became CEO of SIE’s Platform Business Group, and Hermen Hulst was appointed CEO of SIE’s Studio Business Group.

Serkan Toto, a game analyst and CEO of Kantan Games, said in a message to GamesBeat that Sony had a “silent” quarter aside from the launch of Astro Bot.

“But overall, their game business looks pretty solid,” Toto said. “I think they are increasingly getting people to pay more for PlayStation Plus, a high-margin segment that helps prop up their numbers. The only concern is declining hardware sales after all the price hikes, so Sony needs to figure out a way to boost sales ASAP.”

And he said 2025 could be a much, much better year for Sony if they manage to release more first-party games and if Grand Theft Auto VI — coming in the fall of 2025 from Take-Two Interactive’s Rockstar Games — really hits.