{"id":74840,"date":"2026-11-05T18:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=74840"},"modified":"2026-11-05T18:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:43:28","slug":"playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"PlayStation\u00a0player base and monthly active users reached record high in September despite declining hardware sales, Sony reports\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sony Group held a financial results briefing for the second quarter of the fiscal year on November 5, sharing information&nbsp;on PlayStation&#8217;s performance between April and September 2026, and outlining its plans for the console.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/gamebiz.jp\/news\/435119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GameBiz<\/a> reports, monthly active users (MAU) on PlayStation (4 and 5) reached 127 million accounts in September, marking 7% growth year-on-year and a new record high.\u00a0Total playtime during the second quarter also increased by 4% year-on-year. The company stated that this trend indicates a steady rise in baseline player engagement compared to the first quarter.\u00a0Sony&#8217;s Game &amp; Network Services (G&amp;NS) sector saw revenue grow by 9% year-on-year, and operating profit rise by 83% year-on-year (Marvel&#8217;s Wolverine is highlighted for contributing to earnings).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, PS5 hardware sales continued to gradually decline, and Sony expects this trend to continue given the console&#8217;s position in its lifecycle. In place of hardware sales, Sony intends to further encourage player engagement across its approximately\u00a0100 million installed PS5 units and 127 million PlayStation accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile,&nbsp;research and development for Sony&#8217;s next-generation&nbsp;console is progressing as scheduled, according to the company.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-needs-to-reconsider-its-pursuit-of-cutting-edge-graphics-for-future-consoles-says-former-sie-executive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PlayStation needs to reconsider its pursuit of cutting-edge graphics for future consoles, says former SIE executive\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sony&#8217;s Game &#038; Network Services (G&#038;NS) sector saw revenue grow by 9% and operating profit rise by 83% year-on-year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":37778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[261,17],"class_list":["post-74840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - 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AUTOMATON WEST","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PlayStation\u00a0player base and monthly active users reached record high in September despite declining hardware sales, Sony reports\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Sony's Game & Network Services (G&NS) sector saw revenue grow by 9% and operating profit rise by 83% year-on-year.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-11-05T09:43:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-11-05T09:43:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1302,"height":715,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241001-37775.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"PlayStation\u00a0player base and monthly active users reached record high in September despite declining hardware sales, Sony reports\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-11-05T09:43:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-11-05T09:43:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/"},"wordCount":222,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241001-37775.jpg","keywords":["Financial News","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/playstation-player-base-and-monthly-active-users-reached-record-high-in-september-despite-declining-hardware-sales-sony-reports\/","name":"PlayStation\u00a0player base and monthly active users reached record high in September despite declining hardware sales, Sony reports\u00a0 - 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