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| Sony sold 7.8 million PS5 platforms |
Sony announced in its fourth-quarter earnings report that Sony has sold 7.8 million PS5 platforms as of March 31.
Given the demand for games, movies, and other content during the coronavirus pandemic, Sony's operating profit was 66.5 billion yen ($ 610.8 million), compared to 35.4 billion yen the previous year.
With people staying home, the company has a strong demand for PS5 platforms, games, movies, and other content.
The new platform was launched in major markets in November, and Sony hopes to leverage the platform to boost online game downloads and subscription services.
PlayStation Plus subscribers are now 47.6 million, an increase of 14.7% from the previous year.
As of the fourth-quarter data, total PlayStation operating profit for the 2020 fiscal year rose to 342.2 billion yen ($ 3.14 billion), setting a record for Sony.
Sony's latest financial report shows that the company has shipped 4.5 million PS5 platforms worldwide by the end of 2020.
That means 3.3 million units were shipped from January to March, reflecting Sony's current manufacturing capabilities as the PS5 remains difficult to buy and demand far exceeds supply.
The reason for the quarterly drop may be due to Sony's increased production ahead of the system's launch.
NPD said earlier this month that within five months of its launch, the PS5 was the best-selling gaming console in US history, in terms of shipping volume and overall cost.
In the first quarter of 2021, Nintendo Switch sales in the US were higher than Sony's on the PS5.
Since the PS5 has been hard to find since it was first released, this is not surprising.
Sony shipped an additional 1 million PS4 platforms in the last quarter, bringing the current system count to 115.9 million units.
Sony's report indicated that the PS5 sales speed is slightly faster than the global PS4 speed. As of March 31, 2014, PS4 shipments have reached 7.6 million units.