PS5 no longer being sold at a loss as Sony confident about 22.6 million sales target

PS5 Digital Edition — A newly profitable product (pic: Sony)

It might be difficult to get hold of, but the PlayStation 5 sold almost as many consoles in the UK during July as every other console put together, which considering the Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch are also in high demand is quite an achievement.

Having just passed the 10 million mark, Sony’s goal now is to sell at least 22.6 million consoles by the end of their next financial year in March 2022. Even assuming the demand is there, that’s a big ask in terms of there being enough components to manufacture that many – but Sony claims that won’t be a problem.

Not only that but the more expensive model of the PlayStation 5 is now profitable. The cheaper, disc-less Digital Edition is still being sold at a loss, but that apparently is being offset by other hardware sales, including peripherals.

Sony and Microsoft’s consoles are usually sold at a loss at launch, as they make their money from peripheral sales, games and licensing, and services such as PlayStation Plus.

They usually become profitable over time, especially after hardware updates that streamline the manufacturing process, but the only change to the PlayStation 5 so far has been a seemingly minor one.

The details were announced during an investors call in which all the news seems to be good for Sony, including the fact that recent first party titles Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and MLB The Show 21 have both exceeded sales expectations.

Rift Apart has already been announced as selling 1.1 million copies but baseball game MLB The Show 21 was noted as being especially successful, with the game having also been released on Xbox formats.

Exactly why still isn’t clear but it likely has something to do with the MLB licence. Nevertheless, it has no doubt got Sony thinking about the possibility of releasing other first party games on rival formats.

They’re certainly planning to continue to port more titles the PC, confirming that that’s in large part what they bought little-known Dutch developer Nixxes.

What wasn’t mentioned though is rumours of a delay for Horizon Forbidden West, which if true would leave Sony without any major first party exclusives for Christmas – unless there’s something new they announce in the next few months.