PlayStation could use more hits, amid first-party game sales decline

What will tomorrow bring?

Each year since 2020, Sony has sold millions of fewer copies of the games it has developed and/or published for its PlayStation consoles—until a small uptick in the past year—according to data released by Sony and collated by Game File.

At the recent peak of its performance, in the 12 months between the spring of 2020 and the winter of 2021, Sony sold 58.4 million copies of its games. That was during a remarkable stretch that included the massive hits The Last of Us Part II and Ghost Of Tsushima, as well as the launch of the PlayStation 5.

Four years later, in a 12-month cycle that included Game of the Year winner Astro Bot and the infamous flop Concord, Sony sold less than half as many first-party games.

The company’s most recent total, tallying first-party PlayStation games sold on PS4 and PS5 from April 2025 through March 2026 showed the first improvement in a half-decade, up to 32.1 million first-party games sold.

That modest rebound came in a year that featured the marquee release Ghost Of Yotei.

The decline of first-party PlayStation game sales since 2020 can be seen in Sony’s own annual financial results published each May. Since 2020, the company’s data has included a total number of units sold for “first party titles.” When it began reporting this, Sony even shared historical sums back to 2018.

Viewed in total, the steady drop may help solidify a feeling among PlayStation observers who’ve sensed something off about the Sony gaming group’s performance since the start of the PS5 generation in 2020.

PlayStation still sells millions of consoles each year and makes multi-million-selling games, but a half-decade that was dense with studio acquisitions has failed to significantly offset a downward trend in the number of copies Sony sells of its own games. A recent rush of remakes and remasters hasn’t bent the curve upward either, it appears.

The drop since 2020—what looks like a slowdown of bona fide Sony-backed hits—is why events like Tuesday’s PlayStation State of Play showcase stoke so much enthusiasm among fans of Sony’s game consoles. That event is already slated to showcase the upcoming Wolverine game from Sony hit-maker Insomniac. More of Sony’s game teams feel due to show up and deliver, though whether they do or not is TBD.

As with any data, some caveats and context about Sony’s first-party sales decline is needed.

Most importantly, the peak year when Sony sold 58.4 million copies of its games was the year of the spread of a global pandemic. The Covid outbreak triggered worldwide stay-at-home lockdowns, which spiked interest in homebound entertainment, including video games.

But if it was all just a come-down from the pandemic, the total number of games sold on PlayStation consoles would be down similarly. A check of Sony’s data shows they’re not.