New data shows Sony's sales of its PlayStation exclusives have been in decline since 2020, covering almost the entirety of the PS5 generation so far

Sales of PlayStation's first-party exclusive games have been on the decline since the company's 2020 fiscal year, according to new data, only registering a brief spike last year (2025). That perceptible drop is notable, in part because Sony has always positioned PlayStation as the only place to play some of the best games, many of which were produced by its own in-house studios which the platform holder invested billions into.

The information comes from Sony's own data, which Game File has helpfully collated. According to the data, Sony's first-party sales peaked in FY20, which covers the period from April 2020 to March 2021. Over that 12-month period, Sony sold 58.4 million copies of games it published.

That total has been dropping ever since, reaching a low of 28.9m in FY24, before seeing a nice boost to 32.1m in FY25, which ended March 2026. That's a little over half of the FY20 peak, however.

As the report notes, the peak aligns nicely with the launch of the PS5, a time when the console was sold out everywhere. Thanks to backwards compatibility, and Sony's decision to continue releasing games on PS4 alongside PS5, the company enjoyed a healthy volume of sales across two generations of its consoles. That was also the time of Covid-induced lockdowns worldwide, which boosted games revenue across the board.

Very much akin to Nintendo, PlayStation exclusives have always been held in high regard, often cited as reason enough to own a PlayStation console. Today, games are more costly to develop - and market - than ever before. Development cycles have also never been longer, putting more pressure on Sony's first-party output.

It's also worth pointing out that Sony first decided to bring some of its first-party, single-player exclusives to PC over that same period, starting in August 2020 with Horizon Zero Dawn. The platform holder has more or less maintained a year gap between a game's initial release on PlayStation, and its arrival on PC.

That strategy held strong for several years (though some games never made the jump), with Sony only confirming very recently that it no longer intends to bring its exclusive, single-player titles to PC. It's possible the declining sales on its own platform may have had something to do with the - seemingly abrupt - decision to pull away from releasing its internally-developed titles on PC.

So, if it never felt like the current generation of consoles has started in earnest, today's revelation might help explain why.