What you need to know
- Sony has posted its Q4 2020 fiscal year financial results.
- The company has revealed that it has sold a total of 7.8 million PS5 consoles so far.
- Sony's PlayStation Plus service now has 47.4 million monthly active users.
Sony today shared its financial results for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020. The company posted an operating profit of 66.5 billion yen ($610.8 million) during the period, thanks to a strong performance by its gaming, movie, and music divisions.
The games and network services business saw an impressive 32% YoY increase in full-year sales, reaching 2.66 trillion yen ($24.6 billion). Operating profit, on the other hand, came in at 342 billion yen ($3.17 billion), up from 238 billion yen ($2.2 billion) last year. However, Sony notes that the division's operating income was dragged down by "loss resulting from strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than the manufacturing costs."
Sony's latest earnings report reveals that the company has sold 7.8 million PS5 consoles so far. While 4.5 million units of the console were shipped in Q3 2020, Sony managed to ship 3.3 million units in the fourth quarter. The lower Q4 numbers don't come as a surprise, as demand for the console remains higher than the supply and restocks of the PS5 are still sporadic at most retailers. PS4 shipments, in comparison, reached 5.7 million units in FY 2020.
Sony's PlayStation Plus subscriptions also helped boost profit during the fourth quarter. Sony says the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers jumped 20% YoY to 47.6 million. Game sales went up from 276.1 million units in FY19 to 338.9 million units.
