Sony came out with the annual numbers and put out the fact that Helldivers 2 numbers on PC and PS5 exceeded all expectations and has gone to sell a total of 12 million units since its release, even more than what a marquee title like God Of War : Ragnarok managed to sale in a similar time period. The game’s performance had a significant impact on the sales and profit for the last quarter, and this performance looks to have given Sony the confidence to expect good numbers going ahead next year with Destiny 2 : The Final Shape, and Concord – both live service games – expected to launch.
Sony also acknowledged a change in business model and success parameters : While it remained the number of games sold per hardware (console) sold till PS3, from PS4 onwards and for PS5, the playtime per user on the console has become an important criteria for success. And on this front, PS5 seems to have done quite well : The report went on to add that the playtime per user increased 15% year on year and reached the second highest ever for any quarter, barring the peak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The overall Games & Network Services – which includes console and games sold, had a strong 17% growth year on year, but is expected to remain static in the coming year : The company is estimating a decrease in the number of hardware units that will get sold, and hence the revenue numbers from that part is likely to see a drop
