Sony’s Game & Network Services division posted ¥1,208.5 billion in sales and ¥220.1 billion in operating income for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, even as physical PlayStation 5 shipments fell 35% year-on-year to 2.6 million units.
Sony raised its full-year sales forecast for the segment by 6% to ¥4,830 billion, alongside a matching 6% profit bump to ¥700 billion. CFO Lin Tao attributed the upward revision to stronger sales of non-first-party game software titles, while Sony also confirmed that development on the next-generation platform is progressing as scheduled.
Digital Downloads Drive Rising Software Sales
Total software sales reached 88.2 million units for the quarter, climbing past the 80.3 million units sold during the same period in Sony’s latest financial report.
Full-game software revenue rose to 708.5 billion yen, with digital downloads accounting for 78% of those sales compared to 72% a year earlier. Physical disc revenue also increased slightly to 43.1 billion yen, up from 35.4 billion yen.
Monthly active users on the PlayStation Network reached 127 million, setting a new record for September. Network services revenue grew 19.5% to 218.3 billion yen, supported by rising PlayStation Plus subscriptions and advertising.
Across Sony Corporation, six-month sales rose 9.4% to ¥6.2 trillion ($39.1 billion), while operating income increased 42.9% to ¥1.09 trillion ($6.8 billion). For that three-month window, the corporation brought in ¥3.4 trillion ($21.4 billion)—a 10% increase—alongside operating income of ¥622.3 billion ($3.9 billion), representing a 45% gain. Earnings comparisons also benefited from the absence of a ¥49.8 billion one-time charge from the previous year, which had factored in a Bungie impairment.
Revenues from digital software and add-on purchases totaled ¥643.9 billion ($4 billion), whereas physical software brought in ¥43.1 billion ($272 million), marking a 21.7% expansion. Throughout the timeframe, full-game transactions hit 88.2 million units, out of which 8.2 million belonged to first-party studios. Sequentially, monthly active users grew by 2 million, and digital revenue went up by ¥138.8 billion—or ¥158.7 billion when including add-on content, which equates to roughly $996.2 million using the average foreign exchange rate of the second quarter.
Hardware Revenue Drops Amid Component Pressures
On the hardware side, total PS5 shipments reached 97.9 million units worldwide since the console’s June 2020 launch. Engadget reported that supply constraints driven by RAM costs and tariffs limited quarterly hardware output, though executives noted that cost reductions and pricing adjustments helped offset component pressures. As PlayStation 5 unit sales fell from 4 million to 2.6 million consoles, hardware revenue dropped 4.8% to ¥219.7 billion ($1.38 billion). By March 31, 2026, cumulative sell-in had reached 93.7 million units, which then advanced to a total of 97.9 million PS5 sales by September 30.
Profit projections for the current fiscal year—scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2027—are being weighed down by Sony Santa Monica postponing God of War Laufey from a February release to May. Gameplay shown so far is from PS5 only, and marketing material says GTA 6 plays best on PS5.
Executives Secure Memory for Next-Generation Platform
Sony CFO Lin Tao stated that the company has secured the quantity of memory needed for its projected unit sales, allowing the company to make solid progress in preparing for the next-generation platform.
Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese games industry consultancy firm Kantan Games, told VGC regarding the results: What is interesting on Sony‘s side is they upgraded the forecast for the PlayStation business, which should be thanks to even higher than expected pre-orders for GTA 6.
Will higher pre-orders for GTA 6 fully offset the drop in physical PS5 hardware shipments?
Earlier coverage: PlayStation Co-Founder Says Gamers Have a "Mentality Issue" Over Physical Games
