Sony shifts from PS5 sales to monetizing 125M users

Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki told investors the company will shift emphasis away from driving PS5 hardware volume and toward generating recurring revenue from its 125 million monthly PlayStation users.

Totoki said Sony no longer needs to push console sales at the same pace because the platform has reached a broad installed base. “We have several millions of players within our ecosystem,” he added, “Our focus now is on how to continuously create value for those players who use our platforms.”

Sony has shipped more than 95 million PS5 consoles as of June 30, 2026, and reported roughly 125 million monthly active users across the PlayStation ecosystem in mid‑2026. Those user figures cover accounts on older consoles as well as PS5 systems.

Totoki outlined plans to increase monetization of the existing audience through PlayStation Plus subscriptions, downloadable content, add‑ons, live‑service titles and other digital purchases.

The company noted the PS5, launched in November 2022, is at about the midpoint of its product lifecycle. Totoki cited rising component costs, saying memory prices have increased by about 50 percent, as a factor in shifting priority toward games and services revenue.

While Sony still aims to grow its user base through additional console sales, the company will place greater weight on recurring revenue from games and services as hardware growth slows.

Industry observers expect first‑party PS5 releases to taper as the generation ages; unless Sony advances a successor in the next couple of years, large‑scale first‑party projects for the PS5 are unlikely to extend far beyond late 2027.

Totoki presented the approach as a way to maintain growth in the gaming division by increasing engagement and spending from the existing PlayStation community.