PS5 Shipments Fall 35 Percent as Wolverine Sells 2.4M

Sony shipped 2.6 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, down 35 percent from the 4.0 million it moved a year earlier, according to the second-quarter results it reported today. That year-ago figure is a slight revision from the 3.9 million Sony originally reported, which I covered last November. The first half of the fiscal year now sits at 4.2 million units against 6.5 million over the same stretch last year, putting cumulative sell-in at roughly 97.9 million since launch. Hardware revenue held up better than the unit count, falling 4.9 percent to 219.7 billion yen, with the global price increases that took effect in April likely helping offset some of the decline.

Software went the other direction, with 88.2 million PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games sold during the quarter compared to 80.3 million a year ago, and first-party titles accounted for 8.2 million of those, up from 6.3 million. The digital download ratio climbed to 78 percent from 72 percent. Game software revenue rose 12.6 percent to 708.5 billion yen, with full-game digital sales up 23 percent to 330.8 billion yen and add-on content up 4.4 percent to 313.1 billion yen. Physical software revenue also grew to 43.1 billion yen from 35.4 billion, a few months after Sony announced it is ending physical disc production for new games.

Game & Network Services revenue came in at 1,208.5 billion yen, up 8.6 percent year over year, with Network Services up 19.5 percent to 218.3 billion yen on PlayStation Plus and advertising. Operating income for the segment rose to 220.1 billion yen from 120.4 billion, though last year’s second quarter included 49.8 billion yen in non-recurring charges. Those consisted of a 31.5 billion yen Bungie impairment and an 18.3 billion yen adjustment to previously capitalized development costs, accounting for roughly half of the year-over-year operating income increase. There were no non-recurring items this quarter, and adjusted OIBDA was up 22.8 percent to 244.9 billion yen. As I said back in May, hardware shipments are softening while the services and software side keeps moving in the right direction, and the second quarter is consistent with that pattern.

Sony raised its full-year forecast for the segment for the second time this fiscal year, to 4,830 billion yen in sales and 700 billion yen in operating income. The July forecast was 4,540 billion and 660 billion, and the year started at 4,420 billion and 600 billion back in May. PlayStation Monthly Active Users also reached 127 million at the end of the quarter, up from 119 million a year ago and 125 million at the end of June.

Marvel’s Wolverine makes its first appearance on Sony’s first-party sell-through table, with 2.4 million units sold as of November 4, 50 days after its September 15 launch on PlayStation 5, though the quarter itself only includes the game’s first two weeks. For comparison, the same table has Ghost of Yōtei at 3.3 million after 32 days, Astro Bot at 1.5 million after 58 days, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at five million after just 11 days. In my review, I called Marvel’s Wolverine a solid romp that plays it extremely safe, and while I’d still recommend it to most gamers, I didn’t think it was worth its full $69.99 price. Ghost of Yōtei’s figure hasn’t been updated since last November, and Saros, which launched on April 30, still isn’t on the table at all.