In the aftermath of Sony’s recent State of Play presentation which lacked significant first-party game announcements, it appears that there is a specific reason behind it. Sony has confirmed that there will be a shortage of first-party games for PlayStation 5 in the upcoming year, with no new major existing franchise titles set for release until 2025.
The confirmation came from Sony Group Corporation President Hiroki Totoki in the company’s Q3 2023 earnings report. Totoki stated that the company aims to focus on creating high-quality works and developing live service games for its first-party software. However, there are no plans to release any new major existing franchise titles in the next fiscal year, such as God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Although Sony will be publishing several games in 2024, including Stellar Blade and an Until Dawn remake, these titles may not be considered marquee titles by the company and are not developed by first-party studios. Hence, it can be expected that PlayStation 5’s lineup for 2024 will be relatively lowkey.
This announcement comes following a decline in projected hardware sales for PlayStation 5. Sony has consequently revised its year-end sales forecast for the fiscal year from 25 million to 21 million units. The company anticipates a gradual decline in console sales from the next fiscal year, especially considering the lack of major game releases. Totoki explained that the focus will now be on optimizing sales and profitability, aiming for a balance in unit sales.
Despite the revised projections, PlayStation 5 continues to perform well. Since its launch in 2020, the system has shipped over 54.8 million units, and it recently achieved record-breaking sales for PlayStation consoles in Japan.
