Per the Financial Times article:
Sony has set an ambitious initial sales target for its newest PlayStation game console, undeterred by the generational decline that has befallen rival
Nintendo, whose most recent machine failed to replicate the massive popularity of its predecessor.
Sony said on Thursday it expects to sell 5m units of the PlayStation 4 between the console’s November launch date and the end of the Japanese fiscal year in March.
That would surpass initial sales of the older PlayStation 3 model, which sold 3.55m units in the first five months after its launch in November 2006.
Makers of specialised game consoles have struggled to fend off the challenge presented by smartphones and tablet computers, which have lured away casual game players with simple, low-cost games such as “Angry Birds” as well as increasingly sophisticated versions of console-based action and sports titles.
Nintendo had high hopes for its Wii U game console when it introduced its next-generation machine in November last year, but after disappointing Christmas sales it was forced to cut its initial sales target by more than one-quarter.
Sony will be launching the PlayStation 4 at the same time as Microsoft introduces its newest console, the Xbox One. Analysts were surprised by Sony’s pricing strategy, which set the cost of a PlayStation 4 at $399, a full $100 below that of the Xbox.
Last time round, with the PlayStation 3, Sony introduced two versions priced at $499 and $599 – too high for many consumers. Initial sales fell short of projections, a result that Sony hopes to avoid this time.
Sony is trying to appeal to its traditional market of hardcore game fans, the sort who queue for hours to buy the latest instalment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise and will judge the PlayStation 4 by the nimbleness of its controllers and the speed of its graphics processors.
At the same time, however, it is broadening the machine’s functions as a hub for downloading music and videos.
“It’s become an old concept that consoles are just for games,” Andrew House, head of Sony’s game business, told reporters at the Tokyo Game Show, where the company announced the sales target. “PS4 will not only meet the expectations of core gamers but possibilities of the console are way beyond that.”
Sony will have to achieve its sales target without much help from its home market of Japan, where the PlayStation 4 will not go on sale until February, a month before the end of the fiscal year. The company is counting on the US, by far its largest market, to provide the bulk of demand.
Michael Olsen, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, expects the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One to sell 3m units each in the crucial holiday sales season, when they will make or break their initial projections.
Source : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3d1b11e-2105-11e3-8aff-00144feab7de.html#axzz2fLGva9yS
