Sony’s doubling down on the PlayStation 4, as it tries desperately to return to profitability. The manufacturer revealed as part of its Investors Day that it will be cutting its television and mobile lines, while focusing on its next-gen platform to pick up the slack. The company also has high hopes for its secretly successful image sensor business.
In truth, this sounds like a move that it should have made eons ago. To be clear, the company’s not ditching TVs and smartphones entirely, it’s just planning to produce fewer products, which makes sense considering that it drops a dizzying number of devices every year. With this new strategy, it actually expects to turn a profit – despite anticipating a decline in sales.
We reported yesterday how the PlayStation division aims to eclipse ¥1,600 billion ($13.5 billion) in sales by the end of March 2017 by increasing the average revenue per paying user. For those that missed the story, it intends to do this by enriching its entire ecosystem with the addition of new services such as PlayStation Now and PlayStation Vue.
The market seems to agree with the Japanese giant’s approach, as its shares were up six per cent by the end of Tuesday. To be honest, this is also good news for us as gamers, as it means that the entire company is putting a portion of its eggs into PlayStation’s basket. In other words: it has to keep us happy at this point, as the firm’s future depends on it.
[source reuters.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 14
For every successful product, several fail. That's just how it goes
I want to see the receipts in PS Experience! Or The Game Awards 2014! Or somewhere. It can't just be investment in services. Maybe, just maybe TLG might come out now... Or we might see Vita support... Or we might get some risky titles (Syphon Filter, Getaway, etc.)
You can rank that in order of unlikeliness.
Well... it's about damn time! SONY!
@Punished_Boss_84 For sure. They seem aware they have to keep people actually engaged in the system before selling them extra services, so it mentions the "introduction of core titles" in the slide.
If this means more games and more exclusives, I am all for it. However, I don't see risky games being made, on the contrary. They may play it safe to try and maximize profits.
@Bad-MuthaAdebis
Damn son! Thats cold.
I laughed a little
Sony executives couldn't predict the outcome like this at the time it all started when Ken Kutaragi "The Father of the PlayStation" who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 with Nintendo and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project a meeting was held in June 1992 consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD). The PlayStation project SCEI's first official project was finally given the green light by Sony executives in 1993 after a few years of development.
Also, The Japanese people may need to rethink the number 4 as unlucky. In Japan 4 is pronounced shi which is the same pronunciation as for death and because of this superstitions related to 4 were observed since the old times. For example, even today gifts should never be made of 4 pieces the number 4 is rarely used to number a room and in some high-rise buildings 4 is skipped when numbering the floors.
@Bad-MuthaAdebis
Those must be the risky games (they are new IPs after all), so hopefully we won't see any more of those. Safer bets seem to be InFamous and Killzone, and those did better. And of course Uncharted 4 later on.
Makes sense, seems playstation is the really profitable aspect of the business and shouldnt have to prop up ailing divisions. Hopefully will mean funds can go back into the whole playstation experience.
@Punished_Boss_84 How do you know Vita will get support by this happening, boss? Just curious, that's all.
@Enobmah_Shards
Didn't alarm bells ring when I listed Vita support alongside The Last Guardian?
It's nothing but fleeting hope.
@Punished_Boss_84 So you mean to say that vita support is just minimal?
Did you also read the article about a standalone PS Vita slim for 200 dollars with no free game or a memory card? It is like Sony wants to let this system die or something...
@Enobmah_Shards
It's nonexistent, as in they're not trying.
Dear Sony,
Please make Project Morpheus a thing I can give you money for.
I still have the PS Move wands and holsters I bought the day they came out in 2010. I still feel a bit burned by that. Sell me a virtual reality headset to go with those plastic ice cream cones and all will be forgiven.
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