Sony’s financials continue to make for healthy reading as the coronavirus pandemic has boosted the PlayStation business to stratospheric levels. The manufacturer’s current flagship system, the PlayStation 4, shipped 1.5 million units in the three month period ending 30th September, meaning its life-to-date sales currently sit at 113.6 million units.
That actually represents a significant decline in PS4 hardware sales compared to the 2.8 million units it shipped during the same period last year, although it’s worth noting that the console was somewhat supply constrained due to COVID-19. It’s also been years since the system received a price alteration, which is something the platform holder may consider once the PlayStation 5 launches next month.
While the organisation’s gaming division dominated sales, raking in ¥104.9 billion (~$988 million) overall, all of the firm’s subsidiaries – including, surprisingly, Sony Pictures – turned a profit, leading to a quarterly operating income of ¥317.8 billion (~$2.99 billion). It’ll now look to the holiday period, and the all-important launch of the PS5, to bolster its performance.
[source sony.net]
Comments 26
Sony Pictures actually turning a profit on something unrelated to human mutate spiders? That's headline worthy
I'm really surprised we've yet to see significant price cuts to the PS4 Pro and base PS4. I guess this partly explains why.
Blimey, it just keeps going strong! Still got at least another 3 years of life in it, I reckon, unless Sony 'do a Vita' and concentrate on the PS5 and deny they ever created a 4.
From being broke with ps3 to this. A disciplined culture. Wonder what will they do with ps5 coming from the most profitable console.
Sony needs to strengthen its first party studios in order to stay competitive against ever evolving MS studios. Otherwise I fear these glorious triumphs might vanish in the near future. According to the latest Xbox head interview, they are open to further acquisitions.
Sony 1st party titles is on fire this gen with multiple 10M+ selling titles, now not only playstation consoles is a 3rd party machine, but now a 1st party machine as well 😃
@Dr_ENT I think it's the other ways around? It's microsoft that needs AAA 10M+ selling exclusive titles so people buy their console. It's not enough to buy developers, microsoft needs to nurture them too so their new devs didn't become like rare.
Sony needs like 10+ years for their studio to have 10M+ selling titles, you can't just buy some devs and have that 10M+ selling games 2 or 3 years later.
@TheFrenchiestFry Yeah, Sony has been licensing out good movie IP like The Boys and getting paid this year. Some of their movies actually look good too. Bond/Venom & Spidey/Ghostbusters etc...
@God_of_Nowt. Really dark in ps3 days.nope.ps3 stil outsell Microsoft .i been with PlayStation since day 1.in September 9.1995.and PlayStation never let me down.thats a fact black.word up son
@Dr_ENT They will definitely be doing that. Most of Sony's WWS are growing and they are likely looking at partners like Bluepoint and Housemarque to join Playstation. They are not going to outbid MS in acquisition wars though, and neither should they. MS paid 3x as much as Zenimax is actually worth just to snag them up. They were desperate to match Sony/Nintendo's output in exclusives. This does not make any sense for Sony to spend that much money on developers, they already have IP (current/dormant) to keep PS userbase active. They can always grow it sure and bring back some of those dormant IP (Resistance, Socom, Ape Escape, Warhawk), and I think 3rd party Playstation associated brands like MGS/FF/etc...Sony would be wise to try and snag if MS keeps all of Bestheda stuff exclusive. But I would be completely shocked if PS5/Switch Pro are not the most popular platforms again this generation. Sony does not need to catch up to MS, you are looking at numbers of studios before you even see how the market reacts to their gaming output. Nintendo does not have more studios than PS or MS, and have by far the best selling first party content.
Since alot of PS5 games have a PS4 version and if price goes to $199 then i can see people picking up a PS4. Heck for Minecraft an GTA plus PSNOW it be worth it for a child.
I personally think the PS4 is the best console ever built. Before this I would have said the SNES was. Sonys consistency and quality of first party titles has even surpassed Nintendo.
@playstation1995
I agree. Even though I had a PS1, it was the PS3 that really got me into Playstation.
@Omnistalgic I was actually quite shocked on how much overpayment MS did on Bethesda considering the fact that two of their biggest IPs ( TES and Fallout ) grossed around 5 billion combined FFS Sony's most successful game ( Fate Grand Order ) grossed more and the game is barely 5 years old heck even a PlayStation franchise like Gran Turismo grossed more.
So for me Sony is basically need to nurture further their studios like expanding their teams for more input and smart acquisition with PS second-party devs like BluePoint, HouseMarque and Kojima Productions and making deals with PS- centric publishers like Square Enix, Capcom and Take-Two
@God_of_Nowt yeah they're basically digging their own grave after Sony hire that foreign guy ( forgot his name ) as CEO basically all of their constituents back then were declining and there was conflict on the boardroom thank God that Kaz Hirai managed to turn it around and even put Sony on Forbes Top 100 or else we could be buying an Apple PlayStation not a Sony one
@God_of_Nowt. I understand.remember.Nintendo and xbox had theyre fair shares of past trouble also.nobodys perfect.but sony needs to. Buy new studios.word up son
@TheFrenchiestFry particularly true given they moved the majority of their 2020 slate to 2021 due to the pandemic
@tinCAT-zero. Ps3 is fun .resistance was my game.word up son
@Kefka2589 nah not just PS division I remember Sony had an overall foreign CEO back in the late 2000s I just can't remember his name but I remember that almost everyone hated him
@Kefka2589 @Caliburn08 Kaz Hirai was a genius and was so integral to saving Sony's skin. I think we are still benefitting from the groundwork he laid down today. I hope Jim Ryan proves himself to be a worthy CEO and champion of the brand, but he has huge shoes to fill
Its always the way that a new CEO results in significant change at the top. But i cant help but worry about some of the talent thats been lost in recent times. Not least Shawn Layden and Gio Corsi. Shawn Layden for example was the driving force that enabled Sony to get a deal done to purchase Insomniac. I am still unsighted on the type of relationship Jim holds with the Developers.
Thank goodness Shuhei Yoshida is still on the scene.
@Rob_230 Shuhei is never gonna leave Sony heck even after he dies I could expect his spirit to have a seat in every board meeting
As for Ryan I hope he proves to be worthy I mean the guy has been PS COO for like 5 years which means he is a capable leader before getting the big one and heck they just switched places with Kodera ( yes he is still there )
@sanderson72
Nah. They Vita flopped almost out the gate.
They’ll heavily support the PS4 for at least three more years. I remember buying new PS1 games in 2004 that I played on my PS2.
@SirAngry That's why waiting years for hardware to drop in price just isn't viable anymore.
PS4 on launch day 2013: $399 CDN
PS4 Slim Oct 2020: $379 CDN
7 years to save $20.... 👏😒 Now I can retire. Whoooo.
@Dr_ENT you have that the wrong way around! Sony is killing it on all fronts. will be very interesting to see what Bethesda looks like in 5 years under MS management.
@God_of_Nowt Let's not forget the depths of that darkness when Sony was dragged in front of US Congress as the poster child of consumer identity theft from corporate ineptitude..... and still remains the largest scale data breech (known) to date.....
PS3 was a terrible time.... I probably speak for a lot of the gaming public when I say that only Don Matrick could have sold me a launch PS4......
@God_of_Nowt Love him or hate him, bill gates once infamously said that if you want to keep your computer safe on the internet, you should unplug the ethernet cable. We should have listened.
Yeah the whole situation with data security is infuriating... But we also walked into it willingly. The www was never designed for financial transactions. It was rediculous to start using it that way. Plus, nations, states and municipalities exist for the purpose of creating borders and checks to keep law and order in check. ... One giant global internet with all the riff raff in the world able to pick any lock at any time should have always seemed like a terrible plan. An internet based on traditional legal borders that can interconnect at designated checkpoints probably would have made a lot more sense, especially if financial data was to be used on it. Didn't fit the general post ww2 agenda.... But would have made a lot of sense.
Sony though, ps3 era Sony, owns that one though. The breach was unique in that they knew, and tried to hide it for days. They knew the vulnerability existed and tried to hide that. Then they kept downplaying aspects of it. "Obsolete non us" credit card data (riiight...) And hashed but not encrypted passwords. They weren't even 90s compliant... I swore that I'd never buy another PlayStation. And then Matrick handed them the gift of my pre-order
Actually I find it morbidly funny that for all the hyperbole and promises of Cell, its ultimate fate is to become a sound card. It's like finding out the uppity football captain prom king became a door greeter at Walmart
@Caliburn08 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-29-how-sony-plans-to-make-ps5-bigger-than-ps4 That's exactly what Jim says they're gonna do. It's not as glamorous as spending $7B dollars lol, but it's what sustainable and smart business for Sony. To be fair to MS though, they can afford to throw money around like that without batting an eye. I think some of Bethesda stuff will be exclusive, but I'd bet the big stuff is timed and MS will simply market Gamepass as the best way to play these games while offering it to PS users for $70. If everything is exclusive, Sony will likely develop a studio to compete in the WRPG space or as From for another exclusive.
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