PlayStation-published game sales have been on the decline for nearly five years, essentially since 2020. First-party games from PlayStation have seen a steady drop in sales numbers from year to year over this five-year period, with only a small uptick in 2025. A trend like this is in line with the anecdotal observations of gamers, which have led to complaints about Sony’s lack of first-party output during the PS5 generation.
The current generation has been ongoing since 2020, when the PS5 was released, meaning PlayStation’s first-party sales have basically been dropping throughout the entire gen. Current forecasts for the PS6’s launch put the next generation of hardware releasing sometime in 2027 or 2028. A major console release like this could help push first-party game sales back up, following the small bump in sales in 2025.
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First-Party PlayStation Game Sales Have Been Trending Downward Since 2020
According to data collected by Game File based on annual sales figures reported by Sony, PlayStation-published game sales over the past seven years peaked in 2020 and have been dropping by millions of units sold in almost every year since. The launch of the PS5 alongside games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Demon’s Souls remake is likely the driving force behind that peak in 2020. However, the drop in sales of nearly 15 million units between 2020 and 2021 is emblematic of a larger problem Sony has faced this console generation.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
This downward trend comes in the midst of PlayStation’s push for more live-service games, which notably includes the failure of Concord, which was shut down just 14 days after it launched to the tune of around 25,000 units sold. Another live-service failure came from PlayStation’s Destruction AllStars, which was recently and unexpectedly delisted from the PlayStation Store and shut down. The connection between these games’ shutdowns and low sales figures is apparent, and could account in part for PlayStation’s declining game sales this generation.
On the other hand, hits like Astro Bot, which took home the Game of the Year trophy at The Game Awards 2024, and God of War Ragnarok, which was the fastest-selling first-party game in PlayStation history, show the heights PlayStation was able to achieve this generation. While the start of the generation was a bit rocky due to hardware shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, the release of a highly anticipated title like God of War Ragnarok likely helped soften the blow when it released in 2022, as is evident by the smaller sales dip seen between 2021 and 2022.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
The recent sales numbers bump in 2025 is likely the result of another highly anticipated sequel releasing in the form of Ghost of Yotei, which was the follow-up to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. However, first-party PlayStation games weren’t just sold on Sony hardware; PC ports of these PlayStation-published titles account for a significant number of sales. With the recent announcement that PlayStation games would no longer be released on PC, Ghost of Yotei and future first-party titles won’t have the luxury of additional sales from PC users.
