Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki said the PlayStation 5 is in the latter half of its life cycle and the company is no longer aggressively marketing the console. "We are in the latter half of the life cycle for a PlayStation console. That means that we do not need to ‘aggressively sell’ the console today. And rather than that, we’re focusing on recurring revenue from the recurrent userbase," Totoki told the Wall Street Journal in mid-August 2026 [1, 2].

Sony is shifting its strategy to prioritize recurring revenue streams from its existing user base instead of pushing hardware sales. PlayStation Plus, its subscription service, now boasts over 125 million monthly active users worldwide [1, 2, 3]. The proportion of high-tier PlayStation Plus members is increasing and contributing significantly to the company’s quarterly earnings [2, 3].

Global PS5 shipments reached approximately 95.3 million units as of June 30, 2026 [2, 3]. Sony CFO Lin Tao said the company plans to cautiously phase out physical game disc production starting January 2028 [1]. This announcement has drawn some online criticism from PS5 players concerned about losing physical media [1].

Despite slowing hardware sales, PlayStation Store software revenue hit a record high in the recent quarter, reflecting the success of digital sales and subscriptions [2, 3]. Totoki said recent global shortages and price increases for storage and memory components were fortunate because they occurred in the PS5’s late life cycle rather than early on [3]. Sony confirmed it secured all necessary PS5 memory components for the 2026 fiscal year by July 31, 2026 [2].

Following Rockstar’s extended GTA 6 trailer release on Netflix, major retailers experienced another wave of PS5 stock outages [1]. Sony said it will continue exploring opportunities to expand the PS5 install base while carefully managing hardware demand and memory supply [2].

Sony’s PS5 was originally released in November 2020, with price hikes announced in April 2026 [1]. The company aims to phase out physical discs by January 2028 and focus more on digital revenue as the console matures.

The next major milestone is the planned end of PS5 physical disc production in January 2028, signaling a further push toward digital formats [1].