Executives at Sony and Microsoft have reason to smile. It is that the sales of its gaming products have been showing excellent figures compared to the meager numbers of 2020. The Japanese company presented the results of its second fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter), ended September 30th. Sales of PlayStation 5 consoles for the period were 3.3 million, accumulating 13.4 million to date (to retailers). Meanwhile, sales of PS4 hardware slowed to a trickle in the quarter, with 200,000 selling compared to 1.5 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Hardware sales in the quarter were US$1.41 billion, compared to US$365 million a year ago. Game software sales hit US$3.02 billion in the second fiscal quarter, compared to US$2.91 billion a year earlier. This happened in spite of a sales reduction of PS5 and PS4 games in the second fiscal quarter (76.4 million v 81.8 million in 2Q 2020). The company even sold 7.6 million first-party titles in the quarter, compared to 12.8 million a year ago. The biggest seller title was God of War: Ragnarök, with 19.5 million copies, followed by Marvel’s Spider-Man (13.2 million), Horizon: Zero Dawn (10 million), and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (only 6.5 million).
Regarding subscriptions, there was good news. PlayStation Plus subscribers augmented from 45.9 million (2Q 2020) to 47.2 million (2Q 2021), but monthly active users of PlayStation Network fell from 108 million to 104 million annually.
Overall, Sony’s game and network services sales were up 27% in the quarter from a year ago, while operating income was down, partly because PS5 prices were strategically set lower than the manufacturing costs for the consoles.
SOLID REVENUE FOR MICROSOFT
As for Microsoft’s gaming division, the U.S. company reported 2022’s first-quarter earnings, revealing a revenue surge of 16% over the same period from the previous year. Xbox content and services, like Game Pass, grew 2% year-over-year, and that contributed to the overall progress for the gaming segment. Hardware sales, however, drove the majority of the increase.
Xbox hardware revenue upscale 166% driven by continued demand for Xbox Series X/S on a low prior year comparable. Xbox content and services revenue grew 2%, with also some evolution in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and first-party titles, partially offset by declines from third-party titles.
Launched in November 2020, the Xbox Series X/S consoles were impacted by industry wide shortages from manufacturing and shipping issues created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of available hardware combined with consumers remaining indoors meant that consoles continue to sell as fast as they hit the shelves.
First party games like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and The Elder Scrolls Online have kept engagement high for Game Pass. Interest will gain momentum with Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5, scheduled for release later this year. About numbers for Game Pass subscriptions, analysts estimate they are somewhere around twenty million. As supply bottlenecks ease and with flagship titles coming soon, Microsoft may be looking at as solid a second-quarter as it reported a first-quarter.