{"id":1968070,"date":"2026-06-02T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1968070"},"modified":"2026-06-02T13:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T10:50:56","slug":"new-data-shows-sony-has-been-selling-fewer-and-fewer-copies-of-its-playstation-exclusives-since-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1968070","title":{"rendered":"New data shows Sony has been selling fewer and fewer copies of its PlayStation exclusives since 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">New data shows Sony has been selling fewer and fewer copies of its PlayStation exclusives since 2020<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Hit-starved.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Aloy-looks-puzzled-in-a-screenshot-from-Horizon-Forbidden-West.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Aloy looks puzzled in a screenshot from Horizon Forbidden West\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Aloy-looks-puzzled-in-a-screenshot-from-Horizon-Forbidden-West.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>PlayStation<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/sherif-saed\">Sherif Saed<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-06-02T13:50:56+00:00\">June 2, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-playstation-first-party-sales-decline?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          20 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"e1617883-0d5a-4408-8454-f8dec1839521\" data-name=\"Ghost of Tsushima\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Ghost Of Tsushima\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Ghost Of Tsushima\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Ghost Of Tsushima\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Ghost Of Tsushima\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Ghost Of Tsushima\" title=\"Follow Ghost Of Tsushima\"><br \/>\n  Follow Ghost Of Tsushima<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Sales of PlayStation&#8217;s first-party exclusive games have been on the decline since the company&#8217;s 2020 fiscal year, according to new data, only registering a brief spike last year (2025). That perceptible drop is notable, in part because Sony has always positioned PlayStation as the only place to play some of the best games, many of which were produced by its own in-house studios which the platform holder invested billions into.<\/p>\n<p>The information comes from Sony&#8217;s own data, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamefile.news\/p\/playstation-first-party-sales-decline\">Game File<\/a> has helpfully collated. According to the data, Sony&#8217;s first-party sales peaked in FY20, which covers the period from April 2020 to March 2021. Over that 12-month period, Sony sold 58.4 million copies of games it published.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Ghost of Y\u014dtei Review - Missed Opportunities (Spoiler Free)\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/82CNFu5ZNf8?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/82CNFu5ZNf8\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Ghost of Y\u014dtei Review &#8211; Missed Opportunities (Spoiler Free)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"button video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=82CNFu5ZNf8\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figure>\n<p>That total has been dropping ever since, reaching a low of 28.9m in FY24, before seeing a nice boost to 32.1m in FY25, which ended March 2026. That&#8217;s a little over half of the FY20 peak, however.<\/p>\n<p>As the report notes, the peak aligns nicely with the launch of the PS5, a time when the console was sold out everywhere. Thanks to backwards compatibility, and Sony&#8217;s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-5-games-spider-man-miles-morales-sackboy-and-horizon-forbidden-west-will-all-launch-on-ps4\">to continue releasing games on PS4 alongside PS5<\/a>, the company enjoyed a healthy volume of sales across two generations of its consoles. That was also the time of Covid-induced lockdowns worldwide, which boosted games revenue across the board.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Very much akin to Nintendo, PlayStation exclusives have always been held in high regard, often cited as reason enough to own a PlayStation console. Today, games are more costly to develop &#8211; and market &#8211; than ever before. Development cycles have also never been longer, putting more pressure on Sony&#8217;s first-party output.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Last of Us Part 1 screenshot showing Joel and Ellie on the back of horse\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/The-Last-of-Us-Part-1-screenshot-showing-Joel-and-Ellie-on-the-back-of-horse.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.778125\" width=\"1707\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"The Last of Us Part 1 screenshot showing Joel and Ellie on the back of horse\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"The-Last-of-Us-Part-1-screenshot-showing-Joel-and-Ellie-on-the-back-of-horse.jpg\" height=\"960\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.778125\" width=\"1707\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Naughty Dog<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s also worth pointing out that Sony first decided to bring some of its first-party, single-player exclusives to PC over that same period, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/horizon-zero-dawn-confirmed-for-pc-this-summer\">starting in August 2020 with Horizon Zero Dawn<\/a>. The platform holder has more or less maintained a year gap between a game&#8217;s initial release on PlayStation, and its arrival on PC.<\/p>\n<p>That strategy held strong for several years (though some games never made the jump), with Sony only confirming very recently that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-ps5-pc-single-player-games\">it no longer intends to bring its exclusive, single-player titles to PC<\/a>. It&#8217;s possible the declining sales on its own platform may have had something to do with the &#8211; seemingly abrupt &#8211; decision to pull away from releasing its internally-developed titles on PC.<\/p>\n<p>So, if it never felt like the current generation of consoles has started in earnest, today&#8217;s revelation might help explain why.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Sales of PlayStation&#8217;s first-party exclusive games have been on the decline since the company&#8217;s 2020 fiscal year, according to new data, only registering a brief spike last year (2025). That perceptible drop is notable, in part because Sony has always positioned PlayStation as the only place to play some of the best games, many of which were produced by its own in-house studios which the platform holder invested billions into.<\/p>\n<p>The information comes from Sony&#8217;s own data, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamefile.news\/p\/playstation-first-party-sales-decline\">Game File<\/a> has helpfully collated. According to the data, Sony&#8217;s first-party sales peaked in FY20, which covers the period from April 2020 to March 2021. Over that 12-month period, Sony sold 58.4 million copies of games it published.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Ghost of Y\u014dtei Review - Missed Opportunities (Spoiler Free)\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/82CNFu5ZNf8?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/82CNFu5ZNf8\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Ghost of Y\u014dtei Review &#8211; Missed Opportunities (Spoiler Free)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"button video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=82CNFu5ZNf8\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figure>\n<p>That total has been dropping ever since, reaching a low of 28.9m in FY24, before seeing a nice boost to 32.1m in FY25, which ended March 2026. That&#8217;s a little over half of the FY20 peak, however.<\/p>\n<p>As the report notes, the peak aligns nicely with the launch of the PS5, a time when the console was sold out everywhere. Thanks to backwards compatibility, and Sony&#8217;s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-5-games-spider-man-miles-morales-sackboy-and-horizon-forbidden-west-will-all-launch-on-ps4\">to continue releasing games on PS4 alongside PS5<\/a>, the company enjoyed a healthy volume of sales across two generations of its consoles. That was also the time of Covid-induced lockdowns worldwide, which boosted games revenue across the board.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Very much akin to Nintendo, PlayStation exclusives have always been held in high regard, often cited as reason enough to own a PlayStation console. Today, games are more costly to develop &#8211; and market &#8211; than ever before. Development cycles have also never been longer, putting more pressure on Sony&#8217;s first-party output.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Last of Us Part 1 screenshot showing Joel and Ellie on the back of horse\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/The-Last-of-Us-Part-1-screenshot-showing-Joel-and-Ellie-on-the-back-of-horse.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.778125\" width=\"1707\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"The Last of Us Part 1 screenshot showing Joel and Ellie on the back of horse\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"The-Last-of-Us-Part-1-screenshot-showing-Joel-and-Ellie-on-the-back-of-horse.jpg\" height=\"960\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.778125\" width=\"1707\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Naughty Dog<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s also worth pointing out that Sony first decided to bring some of its first-party, single-player exclusives to PC over that same period, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/horizon-zero-dawn-confirmed-for-pc-this-summer\">starting in August 2020 with Horizon Zero Dawn<\/a>. The platform holder has more or less maintained a year gap between a game&#8217;s initial release on PlayStation, and its arrival on PC.<\/p>\n<p>That strategy held strong for several years (though some games never made the jump), with Sony only confirming very recently that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-ps5-pc-single-player-games\">it no longer intends to bring its exclusive, single-player titles to PC<\/a>. It&#8217;s possible the declining sales on its own platform may have had something to do with the &#8211; seemingly abrupt &#8211; decision to pull away from releasing its internally-developed titles on PC.<\/p>\n<p>So, if it never felt like the current generation of consoles has started in earnest, today&#8217;s revelation might help explain why.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News New data shows Sony has been selling fewer and fewer copies of its PlayStation exclusives since 2020 Hit-starved. Image credit: PlayStation News by Sherif Saed Contributor Published on June 2, 2026 20 comments Follow Ghost Of Tsushima Sales of PlayStation&#8217;s first-party exclusive games have been on the decline since the company&#8217;s 2020 fiscal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1968070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1968070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1968070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1968070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1968070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}