During Sony's quarterly financial results for Q1 2025, we learned that the PlayStation 5 console has now shipped 80.3 million units, breaking the milestone of 80 million. That was thanks to 2.5 million units shipped this quarter, a slight increase compared to the 2.4 million units shipped in Q1 2024.
Overall, it was another excellent quarter for the PlayStation 5, with most indicators trending upward. Full game software sales increased from last year's 53.6 million units to 65.9 million units in the quarter, with a 23% increase. Even first-party game sales went up from 6 million units to 6.9 million units (+15%). The ratio of digital versus physical game sales skewed even more toward digital, which is more great news for Sony, reaching a historic 83%, up from 80% in Q1 2024.
The number of monthly active users (MAUs) on the PlayStation Network also increased, at least compared to Q1 2024, which registered 116 million MAUs, whereas this latest quarter saw 123 million monthly users on the PSN, a 6% increment. Of course, Q3 2024 and Q4 2024 registered higher MAUs (129 and 124 million, respectively), but that is always the case in those quarters.
Overall, sales for the Game and Network Services segment increased by 8% on a year-over-year basis. Sure, the PlayStation 5 is still lagging behind its predecessor, the PlayStation 4, when considering time aligned sales. In June 2018, that console had already shipped 82.3 million units, 2.1 million more than the PS5.
However, the PS5 had other issues to contend with, such as COVID-19, the global chip shortage that lasted from 2020 and 2023, and now increased prices due to the economic environment. All things considered, Sony is probably still happy with how it's going, even if it's selling a little less than the PlayStation 4.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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