Abstract:
Sony currently makes far more money from each active PlayStation user than it did in the PS4 era. According to calculations by Niko Partners research director Daniel Ahmad, Sony’s average annual revenue per user (ARPU) has increased by 59% compared with the PS4 period.
Specifically, this figure was approximately 23,580 yen (approximately US$230) in fiscal year 2018, and has climbed to 37,485 yen (approximately US$370) in fiscal year 2025. Calculated, this is equivalent to each active user contributing approximately US$230 (approximately RMB 1,650) in annual income compared to the PS4 era.
Ahmed analyzed that this growth is driven by multiple factors: players shifting to higher-tier PS Plus subscriptions, increased spending on games, DLC and in-app purchases, as well as price increases for the console hardware itself.
However, he also pointed out that this indicator has basically stopped growing in the past one or two years. But this does not affect the essence revealed by the overall trend - Sony's business model is undergoing a fundamental change: from "relying on selling hardware to attract new customers" to "making more money from existing users."
This also explains why Sony no longer promotes PS5 as aggressively as before. Sony CEO Totoki Hiroki has previously publicly stated that the company no longer pursues explosive growth in hardware - when each active user can contribute more revenue, the need to desperately attract new players will naturally decrease.
In other words, the joke that PlayStation is a "paying player platform" is actually not far from the truth.
Of course, this strategy also comes with a price - Sony plans to stop issuing physical disc versions of new games from January 2028, a decision that has caused strong dissatisfaction among some players. But no matter what, the pace of digitalization will not stop, and Sony's "harvest mode" will only go deeper and deeper.
Related articles:
Sony said: PS5 no longer needs to rush sales, focus on making money from old players
Comments