Quick answer: Sony shipped 2.6 million PS5 consoles in the July to September 2026 quarter, taking lifetime PS5 sell-in to 97.9 million as of September 30, 2026. Marvel’s Wolverine reached 2.4 million sell-through by November 4, and Sony says next-gen PlayStation development is “progressing as scheduled,” with no PS6 date announced (current as of Sony’s November 5, 2026 results).
The PS5 is now about two million units from 100 million. Sony’s results for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, published today, list 2.6 million PS5 consoles shipped in the quarter, down from 4.0 million a year earlier. Add that to 93.7 million at the end of March and 1.6 million in April to June, and lifetime sell-in lands at 97.9 million.
For context, PS4 passed 100 million in mid-2019, roughly five and a half years after launch. PS5 is just under six years in, so it is trailing its predecessor slightly, but a strong holiday quarter would carry it past the milestone.
Fewer consoles, more players
Hardware is slowing, yet nearly every other PlayStation number went up. Monthly active users hit 127 million in September, up from 119 million a year ago and a record for that month. Full game software across PS4 and PS5 rose to 88.2 million units from 80.3 million, and first-party titles climbed to 8.2 million from 6.3 million. Digital downloads made up 78% of full game sales.
Game and Network Services sales rose about 9% to 1,208.5 billion yen, and operating income jumped to 220.1 billion yen from 120.4 billion. Sony also raised its full year forecast for the division to 4,830 billion yen in sales and 700 billion yen in operating income, up from 4,540 billion and 660 billion in July. Sony pointed to third party titles, first-party sales and cost cuts, and analysts tied much of the lift to GTA 6 preorders.
Wolverine passes 2.4 million
Marvel’s Wolverine reached 2.4 million in global sell-through by November 4, 50 days after its September 15 US launch, per Sony’s own first-party sales table. That is behind Ghost of Yotei, which Sony listed at 3.3 million in 32 days, but enough to push PlayStation engagement up in September. We covered its run to the top of September’s US sales chart last month.
What Sony said about PS6
CFO Lin Tao said next-gen platform development is “progressing as scheduled” and that Sony intends to “make solid progress in preparing for the next-generation platform” in its next fiscal year, which starts in April 2027. Sony also says it has secured the memory it needs for next year’s planned unit sales. There is still no PS6 release date. Some analysts, including MST Financial’s David Gibson, have argued the PS5 cycle will run longer than expected, but that is analyst opinion, not Sony guidance.
Our take
Same day, opposite stories. Nintendo is still early in the Switch 2 hardware cycle, while Sony is squeezing more money out of an installed base it already has. With GTA 6 and God of War Laufey in May 2027 on the way, the PS5 has plenty of runway before PS6 becomes the conversation.
Source: Sony Group Supplemental Information for the Second Quarter Ended September 30, 2026 (November 5, 2026). Earnings call coverage: VGC. Featured image: Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games.
