According to data released by the company, Sony’s decision to raise the price of PlayStation 5 games to $70 seems to have negatively impacted game unit sales. While Sony generates record-breaking revenues from PS4 and PS5 console sales, actual game unit sales have dropped substantially. Sony data shows that PlayStation users spent $6.367 billion on combined digital and physical software purchases for the fiscal year 2022. Still, overall game unit sales dropped to 264.2 million, representing a 39 million drop in unit sales from a year ago. However, Sony has managed to maintain revenue from software sales and is making record amounts.
This suggests that PlayStation gamers are buying fewer games but spending more money on the games they do buy, which is symbolic of the higher $70 price tag for new PlayStation 5 titles. In addition, third-party game sales fell in FY22, with the PlayStation Store showing a 38.6 million year-over-year reduction in sales of third-party titles from the last fiscal year, according to Sony management.
Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 also supports the idea that the higher price for new PS5 games is hurting overall game sales, despite not depressing game revenues. Modern Warfare 2 generated $1 billion in sales in ten days. Still, it did not significantly shift total unit sales during its launch period on PlayStation, as it was only offered at the $70 price point.
While gamers might be worse off out of pocket, Sony’s gamble on higher prices for this generation appears to be paying off as the company rakes in more money. It remains to be seen if those $70 games can come down in price as the generation wears on.
