State of Play Shows PlayStation Regaining Composure After Roaring Holiday Quarter
Despite several low points throughout a difficult 2024 for the video game industry, PlayStation has hardly lost its standing with consumers.
Sony Group disclosed its fiscal third-quarter earnings Thursday, revealing a record holiday season for PlayStation 5.
When converted from the Japanese yen, Sony Game & Network Services’ customer sales exceeded $10 billion for the first time since PS5 launched four years earlier, nearly doubling what the gaming division made in 2020.
The lack of production constraints on semiconductor chips played a big role in PS5 sales steadily increasing each holiday for the last three years, underscoring why Trump’s proposed tariffs on these chips could lower the sales prospects of high-end consoles as Nintendo preps its Switch 2 console for a 2025 release.
But the software side of PlayStation is more than pulling its weight and has seen sales lift concurrently with hardware.
Wednesday’s 40-minute State of Play presentation was a reminder of the robust side of the market PlayStation has carved for itself.
As usual, third-party announcements were a big part of the stream, continuing to normalize the need for PlayStation and Xbox to move away from the exclusivity-first approach that has long defined their competition with each other, one PlayStation has won for a solid decade.
Xbox has fully embraced this reality and currently has more first-party games coming to PS5 in 2025 than Sony, including Bethesda’s “Doom: The Dark Ages,” which was detailed heavily in January’s Xbox Developer Direct presentation.
Still, enough first-party PlayStation was shown to cause a stir, with Housemarque’s reveal for “Saros” ending the show and leading article recaps. Slated for 2026, it’s the studio’s first game since 2021’s highly praised “Returnal” resonated enough for Sony to fully acquire the studio shortly after.
Getting new AAA games out consistently has grown more challenging for the console environment. Sony notified investors a year ago that its fiscal 2024, which ends this March, would be light on mainline exclusives.
Housemarque turning around a new IP in five years is good progress for PlayStation seeking to resolve its pipeline issue, especially since highly anticipated titles like Naughty Dog’s “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet” and “Marvel’s Wolverine” lack release windows. A third “The Last of Us” game has yet to be announced at all, despite the popularity of its HBO adaptation, which returns in April.
As for games outside Sony, some much-needed release dates were finally added to the 2025 calendar.
Take-Two Interactive continues to say a fall release for “Grand Theft Auto 6” is on course but has yet to commit to a date, making it difficult for the rest of the industry to schedule games after the summer, but some are pushing ahead anyway.
Bandai Namco announced an Oct. 2 date for “Directive 8020,” its next “The Dark Pictures” game, keeping with the trend of October releases for its narrative horror series. And “Borderlands 4,” which is published by Take-Two label 2K, announced a Sept. 23 release, making it likely the target window for “GTA 6” is no earlier than October.
PlayStation didn’t ignore its network services side either, announcing a slew of titles coming to PlayStation Plus next week. It is also still focused on strategic rereleases of older titles, revealing a remastered version of 2019 zombie game “Days Gone” will launch April 25.
Challenges and layoffs still abound for the gaming industry, but PlayStation may be the first of its leaders to be nearing brighter skies. More than anything, it will depend on whether console sales can continue unabated.
Sony Group disclosed its fiscal third-quarter earnings Thursday, revealing a record holiday season for PlayStation 5.
When converted from the Japanese yen, Sony Game & Network Services’ customer sales exceeded $10 billion for the first time since PS5 launched four years earlier, nearly doubling what the gaming division made in 2020.
The lack of production constraints on semiconductor chips played a big role in PS5 sales steadily increasing each holiday for the last three years, underscoring why Trump’s proposed tariffs on these chips could lower the sales prospects of high-end consoles as Nintendo preps its Switch 2 console for a 2025 release.
But the software side of PlayStation is more than pulling its weight and has seen sales lift concurrently with hardware.
Wednesday’s 40-minute State of Play presentation was a reminder of the robust side of the market PlayStation has carved for itself.
As usual, third-party announcements were a big part of the stream, continuing to normalize the need for PlayStation and Xbox to move away from the exclusivity-first approach that has long defined their competition with each other, one PlayStation has won for a solid decade.
Xbox has fully embraced this reality and currently has more first-party games coming to PS5 in 2025 than Sony, including Bethesda’s “Doom: The Dark Ages,” which was detailed heavily in January’s Xbox Developer Direct presentation.
Still, enough first-party PlayStation was shown to cause a stir, with Housemarque’s reveal for “Saros” ending the show and leading article recaps. Slated for 2026, it’s the studio’s first game since 2021’s highly praised “Returnal” resonated enough for Sony to fully acquire the studio shortly after.
Getting new AAA games out consistently has grown more challenging for the console environment. Sony notified investors a year ago that its fiscal 2024, which ends this March, would be light on mainline exclusives.
Housemarque turning around a new IP in five years is good progress for PlayStation seeking to resolve its pipeline issue, especially since highly anticipated titles like Naughty Dog’s “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet” and “Marvel’s Wolverine” lack release windows. A third “The Last of Us” game has yet to be announced at all, despite the popularity of its HBO adaptation, which returns in April.
As for games outside Sony, some much-needed release dates were finally added to the 2025 calendar.
Take-Two Interactive continues to say a fall release for “Grand Theft Auto 6” is on course but has yet to commit to a date, making it difficult for the rest of the industry to schedule games after the summer, but some are pushing ahead anyway.
Bandai Namco announced an Oct. 2 date for “Directive 8020,” its next “The Dark Pictures” game, keeping with the trend of October releases for its narrative horror series. And “Borderlands 4,” which is published by Take-Two label 2K, announced a Sept. 23 release, making it likely the target window for “GTA 6” is no earlier than October.
PlayStation didn’t ignore its network services side either, announcing a slew of titles coming to PlayStation Plus next week. It is also still focused on strategic rereleases of older titles, revealing a remastered version of 2019 zombie game “Days Gone” will launch April 25.
Challenges and layoffs still abound for the gaming industry, but PlayStation may be the first of its leaders to be nearing brighter skies. More than anything, it will depend on whether console sales can continue unabated.