[ad_1]
Sony says it expects PlayStation 5 hardware sales to “gradually decline” over its next fiscal year, which runs from April to March 2025, and confirmed it does not plan to release any “existing major franchise titles” during this 12-year period. months.
In the company’s financial results for the three months ended December 31, 2023, Sony’s gaming division reported another record quarter in terms of revenue, with PS5 sales reaching 54.7 million, but lowered its forecast sales for the year after falling behind on its high hardware. aim.
Sony Interactive Entertainment had set an ambitious sales target of 25 million PS5s for the year ending March 2024. However, in the latest quarter, it sold 8.2 million consoles, bringing the year’s total to The moment amounts to 16.4 million. The company said it now expects to miss its original target by 4 million units (21 million).
The corporation now expects 210 billion yen in sales for the year from its gaming and networking services segment (a 5% downward revision), which it said is partly due to a decline in sales and an increase of hardware losses due to promotions.
“As for the PS5 hardware, it will enter its fifth year since its launch,” said Sony President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki. “Partly because we are entering the second half of the console cycle, our goal is to optimize sales with a greater emphasis on balance with profits. Therefore, we expect a gradual decline in unit sales starting next fiscal year.
“With respect to proprietary software, our goal is to continue focusing on producing high-quality productions and producing live service games. But while major projects are currently in development, we don’t plan to release any new major franchise titles in the next fiscal year like God of War: Ragnarok and Marvel Spider-Man 2.”
In software, Sony highlighted Marvel Spider-Man 2, which it said has already sold 10 million units. The Marvel Spider-Man series has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide on PC and consoles, he said.
Sony’s network services revenue, which includes PS Plus and advertising revenue, rose again to its highest level since the service’s renewal last year at ¥137.1 billion (up from ¥122.2 billion from last year).
PlayStation Network’s monthly active users (MAU) also hit a record 123 million, up 11 million year over year. Sony says its MAUs are the estimated total number of unique accounts that played games or used services on PlayStation Network during the last month of the quarter.
Software sales (PS4 and PS5) increased 3.2 million year over year, to 89.7 million units. Digital software accounted for 66% of quarterly game sales, up from 62% last year.
Dr. Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based industry consultant, told VGC: “After Q2 2023 sales came out, it was already very clear that Sony would never reach 25 million units this fiscal year. The third quarter was good, but it was only possible thanks to Sony’s great promotions and discounts during the holidays.
“There is one bright spot in Sony’s PlayStation business: the record 123 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network.”
Sony launched a new PS5 Slim model in November. Once inventory of the launch model runs out, the Slim console will be the only one available.
It was recently claimed that Sony plans to launch a PS5 Pro console in late 2024 and that it will feature a proprietary DLSS-like solution.