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EpicRandy on 03 June 2024
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Doctor_MG said:
EpicRandy said:

It's about the last 2 years and the certainty it will continue this way if they don't change anything.

Both those years saw records of high profits yet lower profits than 2018-2022 and a 10-year low ROI. 

they may have made record profits but those have been achieved through record expenses lowering their overall ROI to the point investments are better made elsewhere. That's why investments to maintain the gaming industry have been cut.

I agree with your point of view, but the point of view of the investor is if I have 2 option 1) Give me $7 profit for $100 invested and 2) give me $7.01+ for 100$ invested they're going to pick the number 2 without a second though. Playstation and pretty much all of the gaming industry with few exceptions is option one.

You keep emphasizing RoI, but, as I've pointed out, the games themselves are not the big money makers. It's the microtransactions. RoI might be lower, that's not an excuse to cut development staff. You need a steady stream of first party content to continue to be successful, at least on consoles. How it works in the modern era is people buy into the ecosystem and then you get your money back on microtransactions. Sony, for some reason, isn't understanding this. They are hoping to cut staff, lower budgets, and keep all the actual profit. That might with this generation, but that may not work as we lead into next generation. 

I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying Sony is thinking of it wrong, and of course they are since investors care about immediate gains and not the long term. 

RoI might be lower, that's not an excuse to cut development staff.

Well, it is for Sony / MS and pretty much all of the industry with few notable exceptions.

For Microtransaction, I do agree it looks to become an unavoidable asset going forward, Sony is late but they are adjusting to it with their multiple GAAS projects.

They are hoping to cut staff, lower budgets, and keep all the actual profit.

I'm reading it more like the industry saw the issue coming, then Covid made them think the problem would go away and provide them with very high ROI, invested a hell lot, Then the Covid effect was a dud, and now they go from "invest as much as you can, don't think twice" to a "Trim the fat and recoup as much you can, think your move 10 times over".

I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying Sony is thinking of it wrong, and of course they are since investors care about immediate gains and not the long term. 

I have the same perspective as you as a consumer, this conversation is just me putting myself into CEO/shareholder's shoes and making sense of a recent decision. The only way I can make sense of the current action is if they are currently way under what was forecasted during 2020-2021 and that the next few years have been revised with way lower expectations.