Sony’s Game & Network Services division is celebrating its best year ever with 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles shipped as of March 31, 2021.
Results published for the fiscal year reveal a 34 percent year-on-year increase in sales. Operating income increased from 103.8 billion yen to 342.2 billion yen. Sony attributes this “significant increase” to an increase in game software and hardware sales following the PS5’s launch as well as an increase in PS Plus subscribers. However, the increase in operating income was “partially offset by a loss resulting from strategic price points for PS5 hardware that were set lower than the manufacturing costs, as well as an increase in selling, general and administrative expenses related to the launch of PS5.” Analysts have pointed out that this is standard practice at the beginning of a console’s life cycle.
This was Sony’s best year ever for its Game & Network services division.
The Game & Network Services segment reported revenue of $24.4 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.
The increase was due to strong software and services sales + PS5 launch impact. pic.twitter.com/MBmXo9p47H
? Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 28, 2021

As of March 31st, PS Plus boasts 47.6 million subscribers, up 6.1 million from 41.5 million subscribers during the same period last year. Elsewhere, Sony revealed that the PS4 has now shipped 115.9 million units.
In terms of forecast for th...