Sony unveiled its annual financial statement today, and it tells us a lot about the current state of the Japanese brand! Let's take an overview of the company's results for the fiscal year, from April 2021 to March 2022.
Console report
As for Sony consoles, the famous PlayStation, the results are below the estimates made in April 2021, especially with regard to the youngest, the PS5. As of March 31, 2022, the console reached a total of 19.3 million consoles sold worldwide, since its release in 2020. An impressive figure, knowing that over the fiscal year in question, 11.5 million consoles were elapsed.
However, this is not enough for the company, which notably compares the results of the PS5 to those of the PS4 which, over the equivalent year of its start of life, had sold more than 14.8 million dollars . copies.
It's not that Sony's latest console doesn't please, it's that it's been too much. Indeed, the PS5 has had a record start in 2020, so demand has skyrocketed. Problem, Sony experienced a shortage of components , which unfortunately slowed the production of these consoles, and thus, the number of sales suffered. However, the PS5 remains Sony's best-selling console for this fiscal year!
Video game review
Despite the slight production delays on the PlayStation 5, the video game is doing very well this year at Sony. For good reason, the brand has just recorded the best figures in its history over the last fiscal year. No less than 70.5 million PS4 and PS5 titles have been purchased by players around the world. With a constantly rising turnover (+3% this year compared to 2020-2021), the Japanese brand is generating a modest profit of €2,509 million (+1%).
On the gaming side, the transition period from the PS4 to the PS5 was decisive for sales of the latter. There were more PlayStation (PS4+PS5) games sold during this period in question than on the transitions from PS1 to PS2 or from PS2 to PS3. The most profitable fiscal year for the brand's games was 2020-2021, thanks to the many lockdowns that caused people to buy games for entertainment. However, the year 2021-2022 ranks second in terms of sales of PlayStation games.
Objectives for 2022-2023
While this year, video games accounted for 27% of Sony's turnover and 26% of its profit, the brand is now betting big on this sector. Annoyed by the stagnation of its figures, the company is aiming for a 34% increase in its turnover , thanks to an increase in the number of consoles produced (now that shortages are easing) but also sales of games outside PlayStation, hardware or even cosmetics.
However, the profits should, according to estimates, fall by 12% (thus a loss of 41.1 billion Yen) due to the increase in production costs, but also to the finalization of certain purchases of studios that the Japanese brand has recently performed like Bungie for example. But like any good investment, it is expected that these purchases will be very profitable in the past, and thus reverse the trend of profits assumed for this next fiscal year.
Who knows what the future will hold for Sony? In any case, although the figures have somewhat stagnated this year, the latter has been decisive in the strategies of the brand, illustrated in particular by several takeovers of key studios, which in the future will undoubtedly help the company to s assert much more than it already does.
The top physical sales are back for week 17. On the program, Elden Ring on Xbox Series, Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 and Nintendo Switch Sports which arrives with a bang in this ranking unveiled by SELL.
