Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki says selling PS5 consoles isn't as important at this point in its life; instead, monetizing the existing user base is the priority.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Totoki explains that the ongoing global RAM shortages, driven by AI companies, aren't Sony's biggest problem right now. While it has caused the company to increase prices of PS5 consoles by £90 across the board, Totoki explains, "we are in the latter half of the lifetime cycle of a PS console. That means that we do not need to aggressively sell the console today."
Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki says at this point in the PS5’s life cycle they do not need to aggressively sell the console!Says they are instead focused on monetizing the existing user base of over 95M consoles sold and 125M monthly active users. https://t.co/K7FjBdee3Z pic.twitter.com/xW2slfjOatAugust 31, 2026
Totoki explains, "We are focusing on recurring revenue from the current user base," citing PS Plus and noting that among the over 95 million PS5 consoles sold, the subscription service has "more than 125 million" monthly active users. He adds, "how to monetize from that user [base] is quite important for us."
Many of us who remember the era will talk about how Sony's overconfidence off the back of the PS2's success led to the company making poor decisions, such as setting the PS3's high launch price and just expecting everyone to go along with it.
And with the PS4 and PS5 doing well, it very much feels like we're back in that era, only this time, no matter how many bad decisions Sony has made this generation – the live service focus, killing physical games, forcing PSN on PC – Microsoft is too busy tripping over its own shoelaces to take advantage like it did with the Xbox 360. Competition is healthy, but Sony is now at the point where the lead is so huge that it doesn't need to "aggressively sell the console," because where else are you playing GTA 6?
