According to Sony’s latest quarterly financial report data, the cumulative sales of PlayStation 5 at the same stage of its life cycle were 42% lower than that of PlayStation 4. This trend is not caused by recent price increases implemented by Sony, but reflects the shortcomings of this generation of console sales strategy.
In its most recent fiscal quarter, Sony sold just 1.5 million PS5 units. The same period last fiscal year was 2.8 million units, a significant decrease. For direct comparison, during the same stage of the PS4's life cycle (Q4 2018), Sony sold 2.6 million PS4 units.
It should be noted that Sony only implemented a more aggressive price increase strategy after this comparison statistics period, raising the price of the standard version of PS5 to US$600 and the price of PS5Pro to US$900 (both are priced in the US market). Therefore, recent price increases cannot explain the current decline in sales.
What really drags down PS5 sales is Sony’s failure to follow the natural price reduction trajectory inherent in previous generations of consoles. Due to memory shortages and supply chain issues, PS5 has never been able to achieve the expected discount level.
The contrast with PS4 is particularly sharp: During the 2018 "Black Friday", the PS4 bundled with "Marvel's Spider-Man" was only priced at US$199.99 (approximately RMB 1,440), and the unit price of the console was US$299.99 (approximately RMB 2,160), which was about US$100 lower than the initial price. This affordable pricing has helped PS4 successfully capture the family and leisure markets - these price-sensitive consumer groups.
However, PS5 has gone in the opposite direction. The cheapest digital version was initially priced at US$399.99 (approximately RMB 2,880); the thin and light version rose to US$449.99 (approximately RMB 3,240) after its launch; in April 2026, the price increased again to US$599.99 (approximately RMB 4,320) - a cumulative price increase in the five years since its launch without any substantial price reduction.