At the end of its fiscal year in May, Sony was fairly bullish on gaming sales, predicting sales of 18 million PS5s for the next two years. The company expects a revenue increase in its gaming division over the next two years.
The company has lowered its profit forecast due to an expected decrease in sales of first party titles. The company attributed the drop in revenue to higher expenses as a result of its acquisition of Bungie Studios.
In the first quarter of this year, Sony sold 2.4 million PS5 consoles, compared to 2.3 million in the same quarter last year. It needs to sell over 5 million units in the next three quarters to meet its May forecast. Sony said in May that it will be able to ramp up production to meet PS5 demand as supply chain issues ease, but the consoles are still in short supply.
Sony sold just 47.1 million titles, including 6.4 million first party games, compared to 63.6 million titles and 10 million first party games in the same quarter of 2021. The number of PS Plus users dropped slightly from Q4 to Q1, and the number of active users dropped as well. The PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers were introduced in June, but they have yet to be revealed.
The Last of Us Part I remake will be arriving on September 2nd, and God of War will be arriving on November 9th. The PSVR 2 won't be arriving until next year.
The next quarter will be important for Sony's gaming division as they will see if they have been able to ramp up production. The steep decline in game sales this quarter boded ominously for the industry as a whole.
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