On the eve of Sony’s crucial State of Play showcase, new data has revealed a steady decline in first-party PlayStation game sales over the past five years, although 2025’s Ghost of Yotei helped reverse the trend.
Having increased the price of a PlayStation 5 and the cost of a PlayStation Plus subscription, Sony is under pressure to deliver with tonight’s State of Play, which we know will include a new look at Insomniac’s Wolverine game. But fans are hoping to hear more from Sony’s wide network of first-party developers at State of Play (check out our predictions here), many of which haven’t released a brand new game in years.
But it isn’t just fans who are applying pressure on Sony. Sony needs some more hit PlayStation games, data reported on by Game File’s Stephen Totilo suggests. Totilo said that Sony has sold millions fewer copies of games it’s either published or developed for PlayStation consoles each financial year since April 2020, which saw a boom in gaming due to lockdowns and the release of heavy hitters such as The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima. Last year (April 2025 to end of March 2026) reversed the trend with a small bump fueled by Ghost of Yotei’s release.
So, what has Sony actually released over the last half decade? Well, there have been some high-profile bombs, including the disastrous live-service game Concord. But it’s worth remembering that through it all, Sony has had a number of smash hits despite the overall sales figure falling. Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2, for example, remains the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time. Astro Bot might not have sold at the same level, but it was critically acclaimed. Insomniac has released Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2, both of which have sold millions, and Sony Santa Monica released God of War Ragnarök, which was a huge hit. Polyphony released Gran Turismo 7. Guerrilla released Horizon Forbidden West. These are all major launches.
But the data doesn’t lie. As Totilo points out, remakes and remasters, of which Sony has released a handful in recent years, haven’t closed the gap. Sony is selling fewer PlayStation Studios games on PlayStation consoles, which may have factored into its decision to pull away from PC and return to PlayStation exclusivity for its single-player narrative titles.
However, Sony will be happy that total PlayStation game sales, including sales of games from third-party developers and publishers, have risen in recent years. So overall, it’s a positive picture. It’s just that Sony-published games could use a shot in the arm.
The data reinforces the idea that Sony has struggled to release new PlayStation 5 games this generation. Big new games have come out, as we’ve outlined, but some developers haven’t released brand new games in years. Chief among them is Naughty Dog, which is working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet but hasn’t released a brand new game since the aforementioned The Last of Us Part II six years ago. Gran Turismo 7 came out as a cross-gen game four years ago, and continues to receive updates, but Polyphony is due another entry in the racing game franchise. Bend Studio’s last game was 2019’s Days Gone. Media Molecule’s last game was 2020’s Dreams.
It’s impossible to point out the slowdown in sales of first-party Sony games without also talking about the many games it has canceled in recent years. Sony’s well-documented live-service game push resulted in mega hit Helldivers 2, but The Last of Us Online was canceled, Concord and its developer, Firewalk, was shut down, and a God of War live-service game from Bluepoint didn’t even make it to announcement before it fell by the wayside. Then there’s the canceled Twisted Metal live-service game, and canceled games at Sony Bend. Haven Studios’ Fairgames is still officially in the works, but may have been renamed. All those canceled games have certainly left a hole in Sony’s release schedule.
Not included in the data are recently released PlayStation Studios games, such as Housemarque’s Saros, although that appears to have struggled in sales terms, and Bungie’s Marathon, which has also appeared to miss sales targets.
And there’s reason to believe the coming years will see a futher increase in PlayStation Studios game sales. Sony will have high hopes for Marvel’s Wolverine, and Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is sure to command attention. State of Play will hopefully flesh the lineup out.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
