You don’t have to be a shareholder to care about the fact the 2025 fiscal year just closed for gaming companies like Nintendo and Sony. The PlayStation maker just published a collection of documents, including a lengthy earnings report, that explain how its business fared last year, from movies to music to video games. The disclosures also give us a better sense of what Sony is planning for both the PlayStation 5 and, eventually, the PlayStation 6.
Here’s what you need to know.
Digital sales are booming, and that could be a problem
With price increases and slower hardware sales, publishers like Sony are increasingly looking to eke out more from digital business. We know that Sony wants to find better ways to monetize its existing user base, and that it has been testing dynamic pricing on its PlayStation Store. It’s a smart strategy, especially when the sales of physical games are trending downward overall. The shift also appears to be working, based on the most recent numbers shared by Sony.
Digital software, add-on content, and network services are by far Sony’s most profitable divisions, compared to sales driven by areas like music, movies, and TV. Not only are those divisions more successful, they’re also growing. Sales for digital software, add-on content, and network services were higher overall in 2025 compared to 2024.
The strategy shift is partially motivated by the RAMpocalypse that has jacked up prices for consoles that use chips that also power AI computing. Unemployment rates are growing, and the most impacted segment are young men — who are also a core video game audience. We’re not in a market where people are running to buy $599.99 pieces of equipment.
The more people download games, the more storage space they need. Prices for storage are also skyrocketing. Not only did Sony increase prices on all of its hardware, the cheapest option saw a downgrade in storage space. Energy prices are going up, and so are internet costs. The gaming public’s willingness to go digital might not be a certainty going forward. For now, most of us will just need to get better at playing digital storage Tetris.
