- The PS5 sold 8 million units in Q3 FY25, outselling the Nintendo Switch 2 by a million.
- The console also surpassed 92.2 million units sold worldwide and officially surpassed the PS3.
- Sony says Yotei’s Ghost among other live service games, contributed to PS5 sales in the third quarter
Despite launching more than five years ago, the PlayStation 5 managed to overtake the Nintendo Switch 2 in the second half of 2025 by one million units.
According to Sony’s latest financial results, during the third quarter of FY25, which begins on October 1 and ends on December 31, the PS5 sold 8 million units compared to 7 million for the Switch 2, and officially exceeded 92.2 million units sold worldwide.
This comes after Nintendo informed investors that Western hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch 2 were not as strong as expected by the end of 2025.
The 8 million figure is down from the 9.5 million Sony managed to sell over the same period in 2024, and the PS5 still lags behind in lifetime sales compared to the PS4’s 94.4 million. However, the PS5 has now officially outsold the PS3, with the latter having sold 87.4 million lifetime sales as of March 31, 2027.
During the webcast (via IGN), Sony CFO Lin Tao credited Sucker Punch Yotei’s Ghostas well as other live service titles like Helldiverse 2 And MLB The Showto the increase in PS5 sales in the third quarter.
“In the studio business, Yotei’s Ghosta flagship title that we released in October, exceeded the sales of the previous title during the same period and contributed significantly to the quarter’s financial results,” Tao said.
“Our live service titles established as Helldiverse 2 And MLB The Show also contributed to stable recurring revenues.
Tao went on to say that Q3 FY25 sales declined 4% year-over-year, “mainly due to lower hardware unit sales,” but operating profit increased 19% year-over-year, which Tao said was “due to the positive impact of foreign exchange rates and the impact of increased sales, network services and proprietary software, setting a record for the third quarter in this segment.”
“We revised our FY25 sales forecast upwards by 4% from the previous forecast to 4.63 trillion yen, and our operating profit forecast by 2% to 510 billion yen,” the CFO added. “User engagement evolved well during the quarter, with monthly active users across PlayStation in December increasing 2% from last December to reach a record high of 132 million accounts. And total playtime for the quarter increased 0.4% year-over-year.
“Although conditions in the console hardware market during the year-end sales season were more challenging than expected, we were able to steadily expand our PS5 install base in line with our original plan and exceed 92 million units on a cumulative sales basis.”
The PS5 launched in November 2020, and Tao explained that although sales of PS5 hardware units declined moderately in the latter half of the console’s lifecycle, games on PSN, third-party titles, and PS Plus contributed significantly to overall software revenue.
“While sales of PS5 hardware units declined moderately in the second half of the console cycle, PlayStation Store software revenue reached an all-time high during the quarter, driven primarily by the contribution of major third-party franchise titles and blockbuster new releases,” Tao said. “PlayStation Plus contributed significantly to the quarter’s results as the transition to higher service levels continued.”
In terms of future software, Tao mentioned Bungie Marathonwhich will launch next month, and should be “appreciated by many users thanks to the fact that Bungie has strengthened the gaming experience”, as well as first-party titles. Saros And Marvel’s Wolverine.
Tao said they are both expected to be released “in the next fiscal year” and that Sony intends to “strengthen our efforts to increase revenue from our studio business.”
It looks like the PS5 is doing well and could even beat the PS4 in lifetime sales before its life cycle ends if it continues. 8 million units in just three months is impressive, especially considering the price hike introduced in August last year.
However, it appears that Sony has no plans to increase the price of the console anytime soon, even amid the wave of generative AI and increased pricing, with Tao confirming that the company intends to negotiate with various suppliers to ensure sufficient supply to meet customer demand.
“Given the stage of our console cycle, our hardware sales strategy can be adjusted flexibly and we intend to minimize the impact of increasing memory cost on this segment in the future by prioritizing monetization of the installed base to date and striving to further increase our software and network services revenue,” Tao said.
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