Sony says that work on its "next-generation platform" – AKA the PS6 – is "progressing as scheduled," while sales of the PS5 keep on trucking, but at a pace that's lagging behind the PS4 at the same point in its own lifecycle amid the ongoing RAM crisis.
During the company's FY2026 Q2 earnings call today, chief financial officer Lin Tao makes multiple references to the company's next console and its plans going forward.
"Looking ahead to next fiscal year, we aim to continue to enhance user engagement and further strengthen monetization through the release of strong titles and the expansion of our service. We also intend to make solid progress in preparing for the next generation platform," she says in comments transcribed by Sony.
But that's not to say that progress isn't already being made. During the Q&A section of the earnings call – transcribed by Seeking Alpha – Tao says "we are progressing as scheduled" on research and development of the next-generation platform, reiterating: "The development itself is on schedule."
She elaborates on future plans in a later question, noting that there will be "investment for the new platform" starting in the next fiscal year and continuing beyond. "For future growth, we have to attach great importance to our new platform," she continues. "We have to make the necessary investments for that. But we have to support this soundness of our platform and try to think how rationally we can invest in our platform."
This is something that Sony will announce at an "appropriate" time in the future.
But how about those PS5 sales? Tao acknowledges that they're "gradually declining as expected in this stage of the console life cycle," but "the PS platform continues to expand and grow in a stable manner."
To get into the numbers, 2.6 million additional PS5 units were sold in the last quarter, bringing the total to 97.9 million. However, that also means it's not selling as well as the PS4 did at the same point in its lifecycle – the previous-gen console had already surpassed 100 million sales by then.
Perhaps that's unsurprising amid ongoing challenges for the PS5, though. Beyond the uproar Sony itself caused by announcing the end of physical PlayStation game production, the ongoing RAM shortage has been having a major impact on hardware prices. During the call, Tao notes that in regard to the PS5 specifically, "we have been able to offset the rise in memory prices through adjustments to promotions and pricing, as well as additional cost-reduction, and we expect hardware profitability for the current fiscal year to remain on par with the previous fiscal year."
Furthermore, she reveals: "Regarding memory procurement for next fiscal year, based on discussions held so far with various suppliers, we have aligned on the quantity of memory needed for our projected hardware unit sales."
Here's hoping, then, that we won't see any more nasty price increases for the PS5 in the months to come – let's face it, they've shot up enough as is.
