Sony still won't say when the next PlayStation is coming, but it did say the work is on track. VGC reports that Sony says development of the next platform is "progressing as scheduled", and that CFO Lin Tao said alongside Thursday's financial results that the company intends to make "solid progress" in preparing for it next fiscal year.
Xarmo couldn't check Sony's own results directly, so the details below are attributed to the outlets reporting them: VGC, GamesRadar+, Kotaku and Push Square.
Investment, but no date
The most useful part of Tao's comments is about money rather than timing. VGC quotes Tao as saying: "From next fiscal year onward, there will be investment in the new platform." Tao added that Sony will "announce that at an appropriate time in the future".
That is about as far as it goes. VGC notes that CEO Hiroki Totoki said on an earlier earnings call this year that Sony had yet to decide on a PlayStation 6 release date, and that some analysts expect the console in 2028. Anything beyond that remains forecast, not announcement.
Sony's next business year starts in April 2027, and VGC reports that the company says it has secured enough memory components for it. In Sony's words, quoted by VGC: "we have aligned on the quantity of memory needed for our projected unit sales."
PS5 closes in on 100 million
VGC reports that Sony sold 2.6 million PS5 consoles in the three months to September 30, taking the total to 97.9 million. Push Square expects a boost from GTA 6 to carry it past 100 million by the end of the next quarter, which would make it the fourth PlayStation system to reach that mark. That's Push Square's expectation, not a Sony figure.
Tao acknowledged the slowdown, in a line quoted by VGC: "Although new PS5 unit sales are gradually declining as expected at this stage of the console life cycle, the PlayStation platform continues to expand and grow in a stable manner."
The wider picture was healthy. VGC reports that games sales rose 9% and operating income 89% year on year, and that Sony raised its forecasts for both, crediting stronger sales of third-party games, notably GTA 6, along with first-party games and cost improvements. Monthly active users reached 127 million in September, a record for that month. Sony says it offset higher memory costs through cost reductions and price increases, and VGC reports it expects hardware profitability to stay level with last year.
Wolverine's number stands out
VGC reports that Sony said Marvel's Wolverine sales have exceeded 2.4 million.
Outlets have been comparing that with Sony's earlier hits. GamesRadar+ points to Marvel's Spider-Man selling 3.3 million copies in three days back in 2018. Kotaku compares it with Marvel's Spider-Man 2's 2.5 million on its first day and Ghost of Yōtei's 3.3 million within 32 days. GamesRadar+ also notes that the game has been Insomniac's worst-reviewed in years on Metacritic, while still beating NBA 2K27 as a PS5 top-seller in the US and Europe.
Mason's take: Put together, these results read like a platform holder that's comfortable with the transition and less comfortable with its own blockbusters. Sony's confidence right now owes a lot to another publisher's game, and securing memory a year out says more about the PS6 era's real constraint than any release-window rumour. Wolverine isn't a disaster on a spreadsheet at this size, but I doubt a Marvel game from Insomniac was ever meant to be judged on those terms.
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