Sony Sold 264.2 Million Games In FY2022, 67% Of Them Being Digital Units

According to the company’s recently published annual financial report for the fiscal year 2022, Sony sold a staggering 264.2 million video games with 43.5 million of them being first-party studio titles. Even more interestingly, 67% of the software sales in FY2022 were solely digital, with physical copies only accounting for 33%. Digital sales have seemingly dominated even more in the fourth quarter.

Sony PlayStation FY22 Gaming Highlights:

• 19.1 Million Shipped Bringing PS5 Lifetime Sales To 38.4 Million Sold

• 264.2 Million Games Sold For PS4/PS5, 43.5 Million Of Which Were 1st Party

• 67% Digital Ratio For FY22 pic.twitter.com/dm6GMy41hb

— @Zuby_Tech (@Zuby_Tech) April 28, 2023

Digital sales have been dominating the industry for a while now and this is just further proof of their supremacy. In 2022 alone, 89.5% of video game purchases were digital while only a meager 10.5% were physical sales. For console games, this number did favor physical releases a little more but digital sales still dominated with 72%. In the UK, one of the biggest gaming markets on Earth, nine out of every ten video games sold were digital.

These scintillating sales numbers resulted in the FY2022 quarter 4 bringing in PlayStation’s highest quarterly revenue in any Q4. When you consider how Sony sold 6.3 million PlayStation 5 units this quarter, this isn’t a surprise. The number of PlayStation Plus subscribers also rose once again in Q4. Over 47.4 million people are now subscribed to the service, a 1 million increase from 46.4 million in the 3rd quarter.

Furthermore, this is also a 1 million increase year-on-year and showcases a resurgence after the subscribers fell in Q2. Even though the Monthly Active Users in PSN did decline to 108 million from 112 million in Q3, they showed a 2 million increase year-on-year. Hence, PlayStation was firing on all fronts this quarter, especially in console sales, which even exceeded the expectations of Sony.

The company initially expected the console to sell 19 million units this fiscal year, but it did a little better with 19.1 million sales. Over 6.3 million PlayStation 5 sales in Q4 were the driving force behind this and broke a long-standing record. The PS5 is now the best-selling console in history during the January to March period due to its Q4 sales, which increased by 4.3 million units year-on-year.

Compared to last year, this is a massive increase as it only sold 11.5 million units in FY2021. In totality, the PlayStation 5 has now amassed over 38.4 million sales, only 1.6 million less than the PS4 in the same duration. Overall, Sony made 1.21 trillion yen in operating profit and 11.5 trillion yen in revenue this fiscal year, exceeding its own forecast.