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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony: PS4 Entering Phase Of Making Profit.

I could have sworn Sony have said in the past that the hardware was making profit out of the gate. I wonder if he's referring to services and software?

Sony on PS4: “We Are Beginning to Enter the Part of the Console Cycle Where We Harvest Profits”

During Sony’s briefing for Japanese investors and analysts about the financial forecast for the current fiscal year, Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida gave more information about the company’s expectations for the PlayStation business in the short term.

Yoshida-san mentioned that the company is now entering the period in the console cycle where the business becomes more profitable:

“About two and half years have passed since the PlayStation 4 went on sale, and we believe we are beginning to enter the part of the console cycle where we harvest profits.”

He also compared this fiscal year’s predicted shipments of twenty million PS4 consoles to the historical record for the PlayStation brand. It’s actually very close: in the fiscal year ended on March 31st 2003 the PS2 shipped 22.52 million units.

This means that this year the PS4 would need to ship 2.52 millions above Sony’s current expectations in order to beat the previous record.

Yoshida-san also talked about the expected performance of PlayStation Network. Sales have been going “smoothly” so far, and while the rate of growth is expected to slow down during the current fiscal year, profitability should improve.

Later, in the conference call for western investors, Yoshida-san mentioned that while the company isn’t breaking down forecast by hardware, software and network, they expect the network part of the business, including PlayStation Plus subscriptions to contribute a “healthy level of profit” within the segment.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2016/05/24/sony-on-ps4-we-are-beginning-to-enter-the-part-of-the-console-cycle-where-we-harvest-profits/



 

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Maybe he means Sony recouped the R&D costs?



Risthel said:
Maybe he means Sony recouped the R&D costs?

Good point. I'd not considered that.



 

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he means even more profit



I could have sworn Sony have said in the passed that the hardware was making profit out of the gate. I wonder if he's referring to services and software?

My thoughts exactly! I would image they're already making profit on software though. Maybe he's talking on a grand scale of entering a period of "PS2 like" profits.



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He means that they finally figured out the ????? part.



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vivster said:
He means that they finally figured out the ????? part.

Lololol



I don't think they have much R&D to recoup on the hardware side.
I think this is more to do with the software side of things, and that early 1st party games/ paid exclusives
probably had a hard time recouping their development costs with early PS4 install base...
Similiar issue with PSN, pointed out by the comment on PSN profitability improving.



mutantsushi said:
I don't think they have much R&D to recoup on the hardware side.
I think this is more to do with the software side of things, and that early 1st party games/ paid exclusives
probably had a hard time recouping their development costs with early PS4 install base...
Similiar issue with PSN, pointed out by the comment on PSN profitability improving.

 

I agree,

To get a big product like this off the ground it takes mre than just R & D costs. They need to market the PS4, which on a global scale will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Then they have to pay their 1st party studios to create games and market them (no income from those games until they  release. Uncharted just released, GoW and Gran Turismo to come which both will have huge budgets. Third party deals to give the edge in sales which aren't always to benefit short term.



It was makeing money long ago, hes talking about the amounts to be made.
Now is when they can sit back with a giant grin on their faces, for the next 3-4 years and rake in cash.