Sony Reports PS5 Sales Decline, Bungie Impairment, and Anticipates Settlement Payouts
-
PS5 sales dropped by 46 percent year-over-year. Sony blamed “continued pressures in the global economic landscape,” for the price hikes in March, amid an ongoing memory crisis and pressure from the war in Iran. Sony now forecasts that annual gaming revenue will drop six percent, but these forecasts could be impacted by ongoing memory costs. “We plan to base our PS5 hardware sales in FY26 on the volume of memory we can procure at reasonable prices and we expect hardware profitability to be essentially the same as FY25,” says Sony.
Compare 1 other version
EngadgetAmid a memory shortage that forced it to raise PS5 prices twice in less than a year, Sony sold just 1.5 million PS5s in its fourth fiscal quarter, down 46 percent from the year before. The company was relatively gloomy about its gaming division's prospects next year too, forecasting that revenue would fall six percent ($1.69 billion).
-
Sony also revealed that during the last financial year it has recorded a $765 million impairment cost against Bungie, the struggling studio behind Destiny 2 and Marathon. Sony first announced its was acquiring Bungie in a $3.6 billion deal just days after Microsoft’s announcement that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard in 2022. Bungie has been hit with with the layoffs of hundreds of workers since joining Sony’s PlayStation division, and was forced to delay its extraction shooter Marathon following lackluster alpha test feedback. Last year an artist accused Bungie of using their work in Marathon without permission, and the matter was resolved a few months later.
Compare 1 other version
EngadgetSome of Sony's revenue and profit issues this year were down to impairment losses with Bungie due to Destiny 2's poor sales. Without those charges on its back next year (plus the expected blockbuster launch of Grand Theft Auto VI in November), the company expects a 30 percent boost in profits for its next fiscal year despite the revenue drop.
-
If you're a PlayStation customer who lives in the US, you may be eligible to claim part of an upcoming $7.85 million settlement payout. The case centers on a claim that Sony "unlawfully eliminated competition and monopolized the market for [its] digital games" by no longer selling game-specific vouchers that let PlayStation owners buy digital games from different online shops.
Compare 2 other versions
EngadgetIf you bought a digital game on the PlayStation Store between April 2019 and December 2023, you may soon receive some store credit in your account. A federal judge in San Francisco granted preliminary approval of a proposed $7.85 million settlement for a class action lawsuit that accused Sony of eliminating competition and monopolizing the market for its digital games through the PlayStation Store.
WiredHow Much Money Will I Get? Probably not a lot, unfortunately. That $7.85 million will be split across legal representatives who argued the settlement, then evenly spread across potentially millions of people’s PSN accounts. It’s hard to tell exactly how much that will amount to, but it’s likely to be a few dollars at best.
-
I’ll Take What I Can Get. When Will That Cash Roll In? The settlement hearing won’t happen until a Fairness Hearing, currently scheduled for October 15, 2026. If that is finalized, the money could take additional weeks or months to be doled out.
Compare 1 other version
CNETThe settlement website is live now, but the settlement payout is still subject to the court's final approval hearing. The hearing is scheduled to take place Oct. 15, and it's meant to confirm the settlement sum, allocate up to 25% of the funds for attorneys' fees and create a plan to distribute the rest of the money to eligible class members.
5 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
-
01 The Verge Canvas is down as ShinyHunters threatens to leak schools’ data A hacker ran me over with a robot lawn mower Musk’s biggest loyalist became his biggest liability Mira Murati’s deposition pulled back the curtain on Sam Altman’s ouster Apple agrees to pay iPhone owners $250 million for not delivering AI Siri
-
02 Engadget expect hardware profitability to be essentially the same as FY25," Sony said. In its previous earnings report, the company revealed that it had secured the minimum memory it needed to accommodate sales for the 2026 holiday season.
-
03 ZDNet The latest release from Bazzite delivers for gamers. You won't find a better out-of-the-box gaming experience on Linux.
-
04 Wired The settlement means the company wasn't accused of any wrongdoing, but it will have to pay nearly $8 million to affected players. Unfortunately, that might take quite a while.
-
05 CNET Sony denied that it engaged in any wrongdoing or that settlement class members were damaged by its actions, and the court has not decided if the company violated any laws. Despite this, the court has preliminarily approved the $7.85 million settlement payment.
Fact Corroboration
Which sources independently confirm the same facts. Hover a claim to see its sources, or a source to see what it corroborates.
Coverage by Perspective
Source Similarity
Connections show how similarly each outlet covered this story. Thicker lines = more similar framing.
Sources (5)
- engadget
- verge
- zdnet
- wired
- cnet