PS5 Sales Decline, but It's Not Far Behind PS4 and It Even Outsold Nintendo Switch 2 During the Holiday Quarter

PlayStation 5 sales declined year-on-year during the crucial holiday quarter, but it’s pretty much neck-and-neck with the PlayStation 4 at the same point during its lifecycle, and it even outsold the Nintendo Switch 2 during the last three months of 2025.

Sony shifted another 8 million PS5 units during the three months ending December 31, 2025, a decline from the 9.5 million PS5s it sold during the same period in 2024. But there are a number of factors at play here. For a start, 8 million sales isn’t too shabby when you consider the PS5 price rises Sony put in place last year (Sony raised the prices of the PS5, PS5 Digital Edition, and PS5 Pro by $50 each in August). Then there’s the tough economic conditions globally that’s putting pressure on consumer spending generally to contend with.

And it’s also worth noting that the PS5, which is now five years old, actually outsold the six month-old Nintendo Switch 2 during the holiday quarter. This week, Nintendo said the Switch 2 sold around 7 million in the three-month period. PS5 sold 1 million more.

The PS5 has now sold 92.2 million units globally, which means it’s still lagging ever so slightly behind its predecessor, the PS4, at this point in each console’s lifecycle (PS4 had sold 94.4 million by now). But with the release of guaranteed console seller GTA 6 coming in November, the PS5 will receive a shot in the arm that may drive it to outselling the PS4 when the dust settles on both consoles.

And here's a fun stat: the PS5 has now officially outsold the PS3. As mentioned, PS5 has sold 92.2 million, and the PS3 managed 87.4 million lifetime sales (as of March 31, 2017). And while the PS5 has some way to go before matching the PS4's 117 million lifetime sales, with the help of GTA 6, it could eventually beat it.

Speaking during a webcast reviewed and transcribed by IGN following its financial results, Sony pointed to increased monetization of its growing PS5 install base as well as growing software sales as more than making up for the decline in console sales. It pointed to the release of Sucker Punch’s PS5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei, which made a “significant contribution” to the quarter, as well as ongoing revenue from Helldivers 2 and MLB The Show.

“FY25 Q3 sales decreased 4% year-on-year, primarily due to lower hardware unit sales,” Lin Tao, Sony’s chief financial officer, said. “Operating income increased 19% year-on-year, primarily due to the positive impact of foreign exchange rates and the impact of increased sales and network services and first-party software, setting a record for the third quarter in this segment.

“We upwardly revised our FY25 sales forecast 4% from the previous forecast to 4,630 billion yen, and our operating income forecast 2% to 510 billion yen. User engagement trended well during the quarter with the number of monthly active users across all of the PlayStation in December increasing 2% compared to the last December to a record high of 132 million accounts. And total play time for the quarter increased 0.4% year-on-year.

“Although conditions in the console hardware market during year-end selling season were more challenging than expected, we were able to steadily expand our PS5 install base in line with our original plan and exceeded 92 million units on a cumulative selling basis.

“While PS5 hardware unit sales have decreased moderately in the latter half of the console cycle, software revenue from the PlayStation Store reached a record high during the quarter, primarily driven by the contribution of major third-party franchise titles and new hit releases. PlayStation Plus significantly contributed to the results of the quarter as the shift to higher tiers of the service continued.”

Sony even waved away concern about potential further PS5 price rises as a result of the rising cost of memory fueled by the AI boom, insisting it’s already in a position to secure the minimum quantity necessary to manage the year-end selling season of its next fiscal year.

“Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough supply to meet the demand of our customers,” Lin Tao continued. “Given the stage of our console cycle, our hardware sales strategy can be adjusted flexibly and we intend to minimize the impact of the increased memory cost on this segment going forward by prioritizing monetization of the install base to date and striving to further expand our software and network service revenue.”

Sony also namechecked Bungie’s live service extraction shooter Marathon, which is due out in March after a significant delay. It sounds relatively confident in the game after it was retooled following negative feedback.

“We expect that Marathon, which is scheduled to be released on March 5, will be enjoyed by many users thanks to Bungie having strengthened the gaming experience,” Lin Tao said. “Next fiscal year, we plan to release new titles such as Saros and Marvel's Wolverine, and we intend to enhance our effort to increase the revenue of our studio business.”

Last month, an analyst report coming out of Japan suggested that Sony may push the launch of the inevitable PlayStation 6 beyond 2028 and lengthen the PS5 lifecycle instead.

David Gibson, senior analyst at MST international who focuses on game and tech companies, published a Japanese language report ahead of today’s financials giving insights into the Sony Group's current performance and potential next moves. “Sony expects the PS5 lifecycle to be longer than that of previous console generations,” Gibson said, adding that this is likely to push the PS6 launch back beyond previous predictions. “There’s a high likelihood that the PS6 launch will occur after 2028.” If Gibson is right, we won't see the PS6 until 2029 at the earliest.

Gibson suggested that Sony is more focused on existing PS5 users than boosting console sales, something the latest comments from Lin Tao now back up. Regarding PlayStation Network services and active PS5 users, Gibson observed that “PS5 user activity continues to set all-time record highs according to usage data. Sony is focusing more on retaining active users than expanding hardware sales.”

Photo by Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].