PS5 No Longer Being Sold At A Loss, At Least Not The Main Model

The PlayStation 5's $500 disc-based edition is no longer being sold at a loss. Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki confirmed this during the company's earnings briefing on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.

The $400 digital edition is still being sold for less than what it costs to manufacture, Sony said, but the losses on that machine are being offset by more margin-rich hardware like peripherals and the PS4. Despite its age, the PS4 shipped another 500,000 units during the April-June period.

Overall, while Sony's video game division posted a modest 2% increase in sales, total operating profit took a substantial hit during the latest quarter. Sony said this was due in part to a decrease in sales of non-first-party games and DLC, as well as losses due to the PS5. Sony said it was taking a loss on the PS5 due to a "strategic price points" to help the system move units.

Losing money on game consoles is common near the start of a platform's lifecycle, but it's not true for every system. Nintendo's wildly popular Switch console was sold for a profit from the start. Microsoft has never offered specifics about the profit profile of its new Xbox consoles, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said the real money in gaming comes from software and services.

Sony's earnings report also brought news about PS5 shipment figures and PlayStation Plus subscriber numbers, while the company also said it has secured enough components to reach its PS5 sales targets. Additionally, PlayStation Now is continuing to grow.