PlayStation 5 enjoyed a stronger-than-expected holiday sales season, matching PS4 during the same period despite a much higher price point, and outselling Nintendo Switch 2.
In its latest financial results covering the three months to December 31, 2025, Sony sold in some 8.1 million PlayStation 5 consoles – just 0.1 million less than PlayStation 4 managed during the same period of its lifecycle. During its own financial results published this week, Nintendo reported that Nintendo Switch 2 sold in around 7.01 million units.
That means PS5 has now sold in around 92.2 million consoles and remains virtually neck-and-neck with its predecessor, launch aligned, despite initial stock shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a significant price difference (PS5 increased in price last year to $550, while PS4 retailed for less than $300 at this stage).
These numbers come on the backdrop of a challenging market for home consoles, with prices higher than ever and consumers squeezed by a higher cost of living. According to Circana data, hardware and software sales in the US had the worst November since tracking began.
PlayStation 5 has now outsold the lifetime sales of PlayStation 3 (87.4 million) and will likely soon overtake Wii (101.63 million) and the original PlayStation (102.49 million). PlayStation 4 has sold around 117 million units to date.
As a result of its earnings, Sony raised its gaming sales (4%) and operating income (2%) forecasts for the fiscal year, which ends on April 1. Sony’s overall group profit is up 22% year-on-year.
“Although conditions in the console hardware market during the end-of-year selling season were more challenging than expected, we were able to steadily expand our PS5 install base in line with our original plan,” the company said during an earnings call, transcribed by VGC.
The company said that, while PS5 console hardware sales have decreased moderately, down 0.9 million compared to last year, software revenue from the PlayStation Store reached a record high during the latest quarter, “primarily driven by the contribution of major third-party franchise titles and new hit releases”, likely Battlefield 6 and NBA 2K26.
According to the platform holder, Ghost of Yotei exceeded sales of its predecessor during the same period, and “significantly” contributed to its results. Sony also cited its live-service games, Helldivers 2 and MLB The Show, as strong contributors.
The company said PlayStation Plus revenue “significantly contributed” to the results of the quarter, as the shift to higher tiers of the service continued. PlayStation’s Monthly Active Users in December reached a record 132 million accounts, and total gameplay hours increased year-on-year.
During its earnings call, Sony also took time to specifically address global shortages and price increases of memory, concerns around which have seen the stock prices of other companies, such as Nintendo, plummet.
Sony claimed it has enough supply of memory components to cover the next calendar year and said it will manage the situation to minimize the impact on its earnings.
“As for a supply of memory, we are already in a position to secure the minimum quantity necessary to manage the year-end selling season,” it said. “Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough supply to meet the demand of our customers.
“Given the stage of our console cycle, our hardware sales strategy can be adjusted flexibly, and we intend to minimise the impact of the increased memory cost on this segment going forward by prioritizing monetization of the installed base to date and driving to expand our software and network services revenue.”
Commenting on PlayStation’s results, Dr Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese games industry consultancy firm Kantan Games, told VGC: “Hardware numbers did dip year-on-year, but 8 million units is still much stronger than what many expected – especially given this was PlayStation 5’s sixth holiday quarter.
“Microsoft‘s continued focus away from hardware and rising prices in PC gaming of course helped, too. And it’s great for Sony that the biggest driver for hardware sales is still to come, namely the eventual launch of GTA VI.”
Looking ahead to its next fiscal year, which runs from April 2026 to March 2027, Sony said it felt its line-up is strong, with Housemarque‘s Saros and Marvel’s Wolverine set to release during the period, and Grand Theft Auto 6 planned from Rockstar.
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