Sony announced that 65.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles had been sold by the end of the second quarter of 2024. Despite a 1.1 million year-over-year decline in console sales, the company made up for it with increased game sales. During the quarter, 77.7 million games were sold, which is 10 million more than the same period last year.

Even with console price hikes, PlayStation Network’s active users remained at 116 million at the end of 2023, contributing to a 9% increase in revenue and a 73% increase in operating profit to ¥445.1 billion (about $2.91 billion).

The main factor behind the success was the high number of games sold, including the role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong, which sold 20 million copies. By the end of the financial year, Sony expects strong releases such as Assassin’s Creed Shadow and Monster Hunter Wilds, which should support positive dynamics.

Sony announced the first details about the new PlayStation 5 Pro game console, which will go on sale in November this year. The main update of the device was a more powerful single-chip system from AMD and an increase in the performance of the graphics subsystem.

PlayStation 5 Pro received 67% more computing units (CU) than the standard PS5, resulting in a 45% increase in performance. Special attention has been paid to improving the performance of ray tracing, and the bandwidth of GDDR6 memory has increased by 28%, which provides more stable operation in high-graphics games.

One of the key innovations was the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution image scaling technology, based on machine learning algorithms. It is designed to improve image quality and frame rate, especially in games with intense graphics.

Externally, the PS5 Pro console resembles a more compact version of the PlayStation five, but lacks a Blu-ray drive, which can be purchased separately. The console also received support for Wi-Fi 7 and is equipped with a built-in SSD of 2 TB, which will increase the speed of downloading games and programs.

Official sales of the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro will begin on November 7, and in Europe the console will be available at a price of €799.99. More detailed specifications will be released by Sony in the near future.