We all know that the PlayStation 4 has been an immense success for Sony, and it seems that hasn't slowed down over the last 12 months. The platform holder has just posted its results for the financial year 2018, and ultimately, it was the best in the company's history in terms of profit, and that's largely down to its video game sector.
Sony's operating profit is up 21.7 per cent year on year at ¥894.2 billion (about $8.06 billion), with the Games and Network Services segment - PlayStation, basically - accounting for ¥311.1 billion (about $2.81 billion) of that figure. This puts the sector head and shoulders above Sony's other endeavours. It doesn't come as a huge surprise, given PS4's performance -- the console is fast approaching 100 million units sold.
However, Sony's forecast for financial year 2019 is fairly subdued. It seems the company is expecting profits to tail off for a number of reasons. For the gaming sector specifically, it expects software to continue to sell well, but PS4 sales to decrease, which makes sense to us. It also states increased costs from development of its next generation console, which again, lines up with what we'd expect.
What this all means is that Sony is in a very good position right now, and it has PS4's staying power to thank for it. While next year the company's figures might not look quite so rosy, it's clear the platform holder will be going into next gen with its best foot forward.
[source sony.net, via resetera.com]
Comments 18
Yaay. Just hope they put all their backs into ps5. High risk, high reward. DieKaiser92.. Ouut!!!
I could see the PS4 lasting for several years into the next generation. I think there will be a lot of cross-gen PS exclusives early on. A significant chunk of that enormous player base isn't going to upgrade for quite a while.
Give us some fantastic PS Plus games next month to celebrate, Sony.
Sony's connection to gamer's and connection to Game developers has put them on that path to Greatness. They are the global #1 console brand across generations of consoles. I wish to express my Thanks to them for giving me the chance to follow them on this path.
PlayStation is the best.from the underdog in September 9.1995 .to the 👑 king of gaming.you are not ready 😳.word up son
suck it Microsoft!!!
@ApostateMage SEA is getting Witness and Metal Gear Survive
@Ralizah If you can get one for below €200 then you have acces to a massive library of games.
Sony and Ninty are both killing it. Xbox just isn’t really that relevant without too many decent exclusives.
@Flaming_Kaiser Pretty much. PS4 has a gigantic and diverse library, and most of its biggest games are extremely cheap, too. It's a budget option that still nets you some of the industry's best content.
@nessisonett As a gaming enthusiast, I've owned almost every console out there. Yet I'm struggling to imagine a scenario where I'd ever buy an Xbox One. I don't like to be negative or pile on to a company that has already struggled this gen, but I just don't get what it's going for. Their first-party games are... OK? Nothing that would sell consoles to most people. PS4's huge Western exclusives make it the ideal one-stop-shop for fans of Western games, as it also gets almost all of the third-party multiplats. It's also missing out on a lot of Japanese games, as that country wants nothing to do with Microsoft. In general, it costs about as much to buy a Xbox One as it does a PS4, but one is clearly more capable than the other.
I guess the Xbone X is better as a power console, but it's going to be replaced by next-gen systems sooner than later.
And it seems like, before long, there won't be any Xbox games that aren't also on PC. Even Halo is going to Steam.
At this point, the Xbox brand seems very much like a third wheel. Maybe that'll change next gen...
@Ralizah How can you owned every video game console existed? I don't see that at all. I mean, you had to be crazy to buy all of the games with them.
@Ralizah I was wondering how do you buy every video game in existence.
@Custom1991 I mean, there's a few big consoles I haven't owned at some point. Namely, the Master System, Saturn, and PS3. But I've owned all the other post-NES "big ones," so to speak. And they all had something unique to offer.
Same with handhelds. Only major one I never owned was the PSP, and a lot of its games are compatible with the Vita anyway.
It’s just a shame there’s so little first party titles confirmed for this year. Seems like an oversight considering how well the system is still doing. I reckon they should buy up a couple more studious..especially considering they’re taking much much longer to actually put out games.
Yet they can’t afford to keep Driveclubs servers live? Lol
@Ralizah I see. I don't have every home console and handheld either. I mostly get the systems from Sony and Nintendo.
@JoeBlogs It was way more expensive than the 360 around launch, and, being a non-monied teenager, that made a big difference. And, looking over the PS3's library, I don't think that was a mistake. Granted, there are a few exclusives on it I still want to play, like MGS4 and Ni no Kuni, but, in general, it was the weaker system in comparison to the 360, which had better Japanese exclusives (pretty amazing when you consider how things panned out this gen) and, usually, the better versions of multiplatform games.
@JoeBlogs I wouldn't go that far, but the PS2 was a SUPERB console. I doubt Sony will ever release anything with as many classic, unique games as a PS1/PS2 again.
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