Sony reports higher PlayStation operating income, but PS5 shipments fall year over year

Sony’s latest financial results (covering the nine months ending December 31, 2025) show the company making more money overall, with its PlayStation business also posting a sizable profit jump. Operating income across Sony rose 21% year over year, while its Game & Network Services segment climbed 27% to ¥409.1 billion ($2.6 billion).

The main soft spot was hardware. Sony said PlayStation 5 shipments for the holiday quarter were 8 million units, down 15.7% from the 9.5 million it shipped in the same period the year before. Over the full nine-month stretch, PS5 shipments reached 14.4 million units, compared to 15.7 million last year, and hardware sales fell 8.5% year over year to ¥1.18 trillion ($7.5 billion).

Software moved in the opposite direction. Sony reported 97.2 million full game sales for the three months ending December 31, 2025, up from 95.9 million a year earlier. First-party games accounted for 13.2 million of those units, also up year over year.

Sony also pointed to growth on the services side. Monthly active users hit 132 million by the end of the quarter, up from 129 million in December 2024. In Q3, digital game and add-on content sales rose 6% to ¥761.5 billion ($4.8 billion), while network services revenue increased 12.6% year over year to ¥199.2 billion ($1.2 billion).

Looking ahead, Sony raised its full-year forecast for Game & Network Services revenue to ¥4.6 trillion ($29.2 billion), up from its previous guidance of ¥4.4 trillion ($27.9 million).