Can GTA 6 save Sony as first-party sales fall 26 million short in 5 years

According to Jeuxvideo, Sony’s first-party game sales have fallen from a 58.40 million peak in 2020 to 2021 to 28.90 million across 2024 to 2025, a decline of nearly 50% over five years and a shortfall of 26 million units. Even with sales ticking back up to 32.10 million in 2025, the outlet argues that PS5 first-party publishing is in a serious slump: showcases and announcements can still raise expectations, but they are no longer converting into actual purchases.

Sony’s first-party lineup used to be one of the clearest selling points in the console business, especially when The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima landed in close succession. The drop is not theoretical. PlayStation is selling 26 million fewer first-party copies than it did at its peak.

Jeuxvideo argues the problem is not visibility, but the failure of that visibility to turn into sales. From State of Play broadcasts to new trailers, Sony can still generate anticipation around upcoming titles. What it has struggled to do is maintain the kind of release cadence that once kept demand high.

The reasons behind the 58.40 million high in 2020 to 2021 are also fairly clear. Pandemic-era stay-at-home demand boosted game spending, The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima gave Sony a strong content lineup, and the PS5 launch added another layer of momentum. In that window, hardware timing, player habits, and software output all aligned.

By 2024 to 2025, that picture had changed. Sales slipped to 28.90 million, and while 2025 saw a modest rebound to 32.10 million, the broader gap from the peak remains obvious. The article points to slow first-party output, long development cycles, and a lack of a defining breakout hit for the PS5 generation as the main reasons player enthusiasm and loyalty have weakened, dragging sales down with them.

That is the broader warning for Sony. A console ecosystem cannot rely on reputation alone. It needs a steady release pipeline, regular visibility, and the sense that there is always another must-play game on the horizon. Otherwise, even a well-liked release such as Astro Bot feels more like a slow-burn success than a game capable of defining the generation.

The takeaway for buyers is fairly simple. If you are buying a PS5 mainly for Sony’s first-party exclusives, it may be worth waiting to see whether the upcoming lineup can really narrow the sales gap. If you were already planning to play major multiplatform releases, though, GTA6 could easily reignite interest on console once it arrives. Jeuxvideo also argues that Rayman: Recontinued Legend, due in October 2026, and the upcoming GTA6 could help lift the broader console market and help revive the PlayStation ecosystem.

Still, a broader market lift from outside hits is not the same as Sony solving its own first-party problem. The real concern is that the PS5 era still lacks the kind of flagship title players repeatedly point to, the way Ghost of Tsushima once underscored Sony’s strengths. If PlayStation is going to recover, it will ultimately have to do that with its own games.