Sony's first-party exclusive game sales peaked at 58.4 million copies sold in the fiscal year 2020 (April 2020-March 2021), driven by the PlayStation 5 launch, major hits like The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and pandemic lockdowns boosting gaming demand [1, 2, 3]. Stephen Totilo noted, "Sony has been selling millions fewer copies of games it’s either published or developed for PlayStation consoles each financial year since April 2020," highlighting the sharp decline from the 2020 boom [4].
After that peak, first-party sales steadily fell each year to a low of 28.9 million copies in fiscal 2024 [1, 2, 3]. Sales dropped from 54.1 million copies in fiscal 2018 and 49.2 million in 2019 before the spike. Fiscal years 2021 through 2023 saw sales around 43.9 million, 43.5 million, and 39.7 million, respectively [3]. Totilo added, "Sony's been selling millions fewer first-party games (developed and/or published) almost every year since 2020" [5].
Fiscal 2025 (April 2025-March 2026) showed modest recovery with 32.1 million copies sold, helped by releases such as Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2, but still far below the 2020 peak [1, 4, 5, 3]. Major recent hits during the decline include God of War Ragnarök, Helldivers 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Horizon Forbidden West, and Death Stranding 2 [2, 4, 5, 3].
Factors contributing to the decline include longer development cycles, rising costs, and a shift toward live-service games that underperformed, such as Concord, which was a commercial failure [1, 2, 5, 3]. Sony's acquisition of Bungie in 2022 for about $3.7 billion also resulted in an impairment loss of approximately $765 million as Bungie shifts focus away from Destiny 2 [3]. Sony has reportedly pulled back from releasing single-player first-party games on PC, possibly due to poor PlayStation sales [1, 4].
Total PlayStation game sales, including third-party titles, declined from a pandemic peak of 338 million copies to nearly 320 million in fiscal 2025, showing a partial broader market pullback despite Sony's first-party struggles [5].
Sony heavily promoted a June 2026 State of Play event aiming to boost first-party sales with new announcements, underscoring the company's efforts to reinvigorate its game lineup [2, 4, 3]. On June 9, 2026, Destiny 2 will receive its final update as Bungie pivots to other projects [3].
