PS5 Sales Slide Hard As Memory Shortage Puts Pressure On Sony
Sony’s PS5 momentum just hit a very obvious wall.
In its fourth fiscal quarter, Sony sold only 1.5 million PS5 consoles, a steep 46% drop compared with the same period a year earlier. The timing is not great: Sony has already raised PS5 prices twice in under a year, with memory shortages making hardware production more expensive.
For Malaysian and SEA gamers, this matters because console pricing here is already sensitive. Once you factor in exchange rates, retailer markups, bundles and limited stock situations, a US$650 standard PS5 can easily feel brutal in RM terms. Even before local conversion, that price is already US$150 higher than it was a year ago — for a console that is now almost six years into its life cycle.
The weird part? Sony’s gaming business is not exactly collapsing. For the full fiscal 2025 year, PlayStation revenue was slightly up at 4.69 trillion yen, around US$29.9 billion, compared with 4.67 trillion yen, around US$29.8 billion, the previous year. Operating income also climbed 12% to 463.3 billion yen, or about US$2.95 billion, helped partly by stronger PlayStation Network sales.
So the picture is more complicated than “PS5 is dying.” Hardware sales are slowing hard, but Sony is still making money through its ecosystem — subscriptions, digital purchases and network spending. That is very relevant in Malaysia too, where many players now buy fewer physical games and spend more on digital sales, PS Plus, in-game currency and live-service titles.
Sony’s forecast for the next fiscal year is cautious. It expects gaming revenue to fall by 6%, equal to about US$1.69 billion. But profit could still rise by 30%, partly because Sony should not have the same Bungie-related impairment losses weighing it down. Those losses were tied to weaker performance from Destiny 2.
There is also one massive wildcard: Grand Theft Auto VI. Sony is clearly expecting Rockstar’s November launch to give the console market a serious boost. In SEA, GTA VI will almost certainly be one of those rare games that pushes people to upgrade hardware, especially among players still holding onto PS4s or waiting for a “must-buy” PS5 title.
But Sony also quietly pointed to the future. The company said its operating income forecast for FY26 would be basically flat year-on-year if you remove the FY25 Bungie impairment charge, because it is increasing investment in its “next-generation platform.” In plain gamer language: PS6 development is already becoming a real cost.
Sony did not officially call it the PlayStation 6, but this is one of the clearest signs yet that the next PlayStation is moving deeper into development. That also puts current PS5 buyers in an awkward spot. Do you pay more now for a console nearing the back half of its cycle, or wait and see what comes next?
Memory supply is the big bottleneck. Sony said PS5 hardware sales in FY26 will depend on how much memory it can secure at reasonable prices, while hardware profitability is expected to stay roughly similar to FY25. The company previously said it had secured the minimum memory needed for the 2026 holiday season, but “minimum” is not exactly the most comforting word for fans hoping for cheaper consoles or easier stock.
Nintendo offers the obvious comparison. The original Switch was also aging badly early last year, but the June 2025 launch of Switch 2 completely changed the conversation and became Nintendo’s fastest-selling console ever. Sony does not have that kind of reset button yet.
For now, Malaysian PlayStation fans should watch two things closely: local PS5 pricing and GTA VI bundle strategy. If memory costs stay high, don’t expect generous price cuts anytime soon. And if GTA VI becomes the monster everyone expects, retailers here may lean hard into premium bundles instead of clean, affordable console deals.
Source: Engadget
