PS5 Price Hike? Sony Won't Comment, As System Reaches 21.7 Million Sold

The PlayStation 5 is flying off store shelves, but--due to supply chain issues and other factors--the system has not been able to match the sales success of the PlayStation 4 thus far. Another recent revelation was that Sony would not comment on a potential PS5 price increase. Here's what we know.

Sony's latest earnings briefing shows that Sony sold a further 2.4 million PS5 systems in the quarter that ended on June 30, bringing the system's lifetime haul to 21.7 million since launch in November 2020. The 2.4 million PS5s sold was up 4% year-over-year.

The PS4, by comparison, reached 25.4 million units after its first seven quarters on the market. Looking to Xbox, Microsoft no longer announces console sales numbers, but it has said the Xbox Series X|S family of consoles is selling better than any previous Xbox console generation at this point in its lifecycle.

Elsewhere, Sony announced that more than 47.1 million PlayStation games were sold in the last quarter, including 6.4 million worth of first-party games. A mighty 79% of games sold were digital.

Total PlayStation game sales for the quarter dropped by 26%, while PlayStation Plus subscribers fell to 47.3 million, down 2%. Monthly active PSN users reached 102 million, which was down 3%.

Also as part of the earnings briefing, Sony management declined to comment on the possibility of raising the price of the PlayStation 5 due to the ongoing chip shortages and other factors. This wouldn't be uncharted for the company, as it recently raised prices--in Japan, at least--for some of its devices like headphones, speakers, and cameras. According to VGC's translation of comments made CFO Hiroki Totoki, Sony isn't prepared to comment on the possibility of a PS5 price hike.

"About a potential price increase for the PS5, at this point in time there is nothing specific I can share with you about prices," the executive said.

Looking ahead, Sony said it is sticking with its previously announced forecast of 18 million PS5 shipments during the current fiscal year. However, due to current conditions, Sony has updated its sales guidance for the PlayStation business to be down by 16%. According to Reuters, this downturn was attributed to an "expected fall in game sales" from third-party studios along with costs related to Sony's deal to buy Bungie for $3.6 billion.