| EpicRandy said: Given the document in the OP the ROI for 2016 was clearly better than 2023. Worst PS4 still play a major role in those revenue and profit right now, it was not the case for the PS3 going into 8th gen. -- It's the loss in revenue associated with it while having to maintain high expense that would be the concern. -- Yes but they are less committed to those single player title as most of their studios are task on GAAS right now, and their single player title can now be considered only to be timed exclusive to PlayStation which is already a big change from the prior occasional PC release. -- Nor will they ever do, they'll simply support PC through steam and Epic. -- Hell divers 2 didn't need PS5 to be successful, but it'll help for sure. -- and MS last years estimated Sony ROI to be around 8%, which in retrospect was extremely close to reality and even a bit generous, while disclosing their own to be ~12% and Nintendo to be some 20% iirc. Do you see why PlayStation must take action here, how good it is to best your competitor in almost every aspect but at the end of the day your competitor is able to satisfy their shareholder better with more return? Sony is in the exact same position as MS, they were simply able to keep status quo for longer due to their strength but now it is not enough. |
You might want to take a look at that document again. In FY16 the PS4 made 1.2B in profit compared to the PS5's 1.9B profit in FY23 with Bungie on the books. Also, what makes you believe that PS5 won't be as sustainable as the PS4 after the PS6 launches? PlayStation Plus is a major factor as to why PlayStation platforms are more sustainable going forward. Its not an outlier for the PS4, its more of a new trend set with the multiplayer paywall. That's not something that's going to drop off with the PS6 launch unless PS5 sales crater going forward. So yeah, the loss in revenue as well as profit, shows why PS5 sales nosediving isn't just a gamer concern as you originally argued.
What makes you think Sony are less committed to single player games? Do you see the push they are giving Astro Bot? Most of their live service games are coming from studios they bought. None of their prestige studios, outside of Guerrilla Games, are focusing on live service. Even most of their XDev partnerships, or projects from developers in Asia, are mostly single player. And yeah, most of their single player games are timed nowadays, but that has essentially been the case since 2020 before the PS5 even launched. The only major shift left for Sony is to go Day and Date on PC for all software as many have predicted would already happen.
Sure, Helldivers 2 didn't need PS5 to be considered a success, but the same can be said about PC. IIRC, Mat from NPD has said that HD2 would still be the biggest game of the year on just the PlayStation 5. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Helldivers 2 made more money on PS5 than PC even if PC has a slightly larger percentage of the player base. Point is, Sony's primary way of making money in gaming, will be through the PlayStation platform, supplemented by delayed PC ports. I also disagree with Sony never attempting to make their own storefront on PC.
Also, didn't Phil Spencer testify that PlayStation made 2x the amount of profit than Xbox? Where exactly is the better return from? If anything, it goes to show looking at just the ROI is extremely misleading. Sony is simply not in the same position as Microsoft as their console is not irrelevant outside of the US and UK. Believe it or not that's a canyon wide gap between the two and how their business functions. Xbox being backed by a trillion dollar company is the reason they can even consider next generation hardware instead of being forced out the market like Sega.
