Is Sony Hinting at Fewer PS4 Price Promotions This Holiday?

Sony banking on strong business momentum

by Sammy Barker Tue 30th Oct 2018

The PlayStation 4 is performing so well in its fifth year on the market that Sony has increased its forecast for the format, predicting that it will sell 17.5 million units during the current fiscal year alone. It’s already half way there. However, the manufacturer has left a hint in its latest financial report that the organisation will not be going crazy with deals over the holidays.

As part of its updated outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, the firm said that it’s upping its expected operating income from ¥250 billion (~$2.2 billion) to ¥310 billion (~$2.7 billion) as it anticipates an increase in PlayStation Plus subscriptions and game sales. But it added that it’s also expecting a reduction in “promotional and other costs related to PS4 hardware, based on the recent strong business momentum”.

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This suggests to us that, with the console selling so well, it may have decided against heavy holiday promotions in favour of profitability. With the system outpacing even the all-new Nintendo Switch so far this year (data from the two companies puts the PS4 an impressive 1.2 million units ahead in 2018 as of the end of September), it may not need a price drop to enjoy a positive Christmas.

[source sony.net]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
OldHunter
Tue 30th Oct 2018

doubt they will win NPD if they dont go 199$, maybe they dont care.

2
Rob_230
Tue 30th Oct 2018

Feels like this is the last year where Sony can make $$$ on the success of PS4 as excitement for ps5 grows. So it makes sense to try and maximise profit this quarter from a business perspective

3
wiiware
Tue 30th Oct 2018

Already got mine so it's not a problem for me

4
Gamer83
Tue 30th Oct 2018

There's MS' opening to finally win an NPD again, assuming Nintendo doesn't have some insanely good deals on Switch. Regardless it's going to be a big holiday season for all 3 so in the end it doesn't really matter who wins. Though MS could certainly use some stuff to be super positive about heading into its end of the year show which will hopefully have some news about the next Xbox.

5
Turismo4GT
Tue 30th Oct 2018

@Rob_230 Sony said they're expecting a reduction in “promotional and other costs related to PS4 hardware, based on the recent strong business momentum”. I'm fully expecting one (or more) of these things to happen in the next year of the PS4's lifecycle:

1. There's going to be a cheaper-to-manufacture PS4 revision (Super Slim, Pro Slim or both). I just hope Sony doesn't do that gawd-awful sliding top like they had with the PS3 Super Slim.

2. Sony may look at dropping the Slim SKU and keeping the Pro as it's only PS4 version going into 2019-2020, while debuting a slimmer, cheaper to make Pro. That way they save on the manufacturing costs of the less powerful console (which would still be supported due to install numbers) while having a 'Dynamic 4K-ready' device to entice late adopters with the massive and diverse library.

6
leucocyte
Tue 30th Oct 2018

maybe it means less promotional costs as in the amount of spending on promotional advertising?. it has no first games (that we know of) to be released before the end of the fiscal year, and all the big 3rd party tie-ins are out already which have probably had their most intensive promotional campaigns at least in terms of expenditure. i'd still expect there to be plenty of bundles for black friday/christmas. maybe not below the current £249 threshold (or £349 for pro), but it'll probably be bundled with a couple of extra games rather than the usual single title. i could see a bundle that includes spiderman and god of war for example.

7
Rob_230
Tue 30th Oct 2018

@Turismo4GT Yeah i heard a similar rumour regarding your second point. Tbh, i think it makes a lot of sense. Reduce the possibility of confusion for the consumer, maybe with just a 1 tb and 2 tb hdd option

8
Turismo4GT
Tue 30th Oct 2018

@Rob_230 indeed, 1TB hard drive should be mandatory as we approach the generation's end. With game install sizes increasing the way they are, next gen should launch with 2TB HDD standard.