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May 26, 2011

Sony drops hint of PlayStation 4 as it reports game profits for fiscal year



Sony dropped a hint today that it is working on a PlayStation 4 video game console even as Nintendo prepares to announce the Wii 2 at the E3 trade show on June 7.
The PlayStation 3, which debuted in 2006, still has a lot of life left in it. But Sony has begun incurring increases in research and development costs. That means that we’re getting closer to the introduction of new game systems for the Big Three of video games — a transition time when billions of dollars are at stake and big market share shifts can happen.
Sony chief financial officer Masaru Kato said on the company’s earnings call, “For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform — when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that — but our development work is already underway, so the costs are incurred there.”
Sony has said it foresess a 10-year life span for the PS 3, and the company is not expected to say much about the PS 4 at its press conference at E3 on June 6. Nintendo, on the other hand, has said it plans to introduce a next-generation game console in 2012. Microsoft, whose Xbox 360 was introduced in 2005, hasn’t said if it will launch a new console or is working on one. All of the console makers want to postpone the introduction of a new console as long as possible so they can amortize the huge development costs over a longer period and reap more sales from games in each generation, but they generally introduce a new console when the older models start to see declining sales.
In some respects, a new console is always in development. But the important difference here is that Sony is incurring rising R&D costs. That means it may be in development on some chips, which are difficult to design and prototype and often carry big price tags during the R&D and early manufacturing stage.
For the fiscal year, the overall Sony Corp. reported sales at 7.18 trillion yen, or $86.5 billion, down slightly from $88.7 billion a year earlier. Operating income was $2.4 billion, up five-fold from $390 million a year ago. But net losses were $3.1 billion, compared to a loss of $501.3 million a year ago, mainly because of Japan quake-related impacts and accounting changes.
Sony’s Networked Products & Services division, which includes the PlayStation game business, saw an improvement. Sales were $19 billion, up 0.4 percent from a year ago. But profit was $429 million, compared with a loss of $1.02 billion a year earlier. Sony credited the game business for the turnaround.
During the fiscal year ended March 31, Sony sold 14.3 million PS 3s, up from 13 million a year earlier. Software sales were 147.9 million units, up from 115.6 million a year ago. The PlayStation Portable sold 8 million, down 1.9 million units from a year ago. Software sales were 46.6 million, up 2.2 million units. The PS 2 sold 6.4 million units, and software sales were 16.4 million units, down from 35.7 million units a year earlier.
Sony expects to sell 15 million units of the PS 3 in the new fiscal year. It plans on selling 6 million PSPs and 4 million PS 2s. Sony made no forecast for sales of its upcoming portable NGP gaming system. The PSN hacker attack is expected to take a toll on earnings in some way. Total sales are expected to be $92.1 billion for the coming year.

Sauce: http://venturebeat.com/2011/05/26/sony-drops-hit-of-playstation-4-as-it-reports-game-profits-for-fiscal-year/

60 comments:

  1. Wow they would need to do this because of all the negatives things they have piling up against their company now a days.

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  2. And this is where I, as an old school gamer, start to feel overwhelmed. What the hell are these new consoles going to be capable of, 3D gaming? I just can't imagine.

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  3. If they expect to sell 15 million units, they will have to low the prices or give cool thing.

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  4. can't wait to see what the ps4 will look like..

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  5. Never got a playstation before, an xbox and a gamecube, but playstations were always more expensive, thought, I'm anxious to see it :D

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  6. not expected at all....PS3 is still beyond the other 2 consoles out there already.

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  7. As a huge PS2 fan, i pretty much disliked everything to do with the PS3. Yea it had some great first party games, but those 5-6 games werent enough to pry me away from the 360 which imo, was the best of this class. The PSN concept was just poorly made, wasnt nearly as clean and accessible as XBL is, plus it felt like every multiplayer game felt dated. With games like Gears of War, Halo, COD, the games always felt crisp, on the PS3, games like Resistance and Uncharted always felt second rate. Maybe the PS3 controller just doesnt age well.

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  8. oh sony had just fucked up mane. no problem tho

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  9. I hope they bring back the boomerang controller.

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  10. Interesting... I'm still sticking with the Xbox 360 though!

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  11. I dont think it would be worth if sony released a new console

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  12. This article didn't mention the network hacking-related losses. I wonder how long the huge supply demand will meet the profit margin in releasing a new console every 5 or 6 years?

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  13. with recent happenings to the PSN, I wonder how successful the announcement of PS4 will be. I'm still big into PS2, as the PS3 simply didn't deliver as much in comparison. Here's to hoping the future brings something amazing

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  14. is it really worth it to get these consoles before they get reviews? i mean, they'll stay the same price anyway

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  15. Can't wait, broke my PS3 and haven't considered buying a system since. Guess I have a reason to wait now.

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  16. oh jeez... when are game consoles gonna give up and just start making computer like systems lol

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  17. Now the ball is in Microsoft's court...

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  18. I need to get a gaming console. I used to play a lot and now it's been like 4 years. Just today I was thinking about it.

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  19. PS4? Wii 2?

    What, did they fire decent writers for the titles of their consoles?

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  20. Damnn i cant wait to get one of these badboys ;D

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  21. Nice, can't wait to see what technoloty Sony comes to the table with in the ps4

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  22. Remember that PS9 commercial?

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  23. I wonder how long it'll be until that gets hacked too..

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  24. ill pass...sticking to pc gaming

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  25. Interesting, I was waiting for the next console generation to happen. I wonder when Xbox (720?) will be announced.

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  26. Playstations always stick around long. Way better investment than buying a regular pc.

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  27. This is just like how Microsoft is already talking about Windows 8. It's always the plight of advertisers to get you all wet for the next big thing.

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  28. I don't mean to be a console elitist, but I just prefer XBOX.

    Sorry!

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  29. That is gonna be one pricy piece of hardware, and it better be good after this whole "got cracked" episode

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  30. I predict Wii 2 will fare way better simply because of their better marketing strategies.

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  31. Awesome, but let's see what Microsoft has to offer

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  32. Playstation or PC? Hmmm......pc.

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  33. Next-gen console?
    Looks like we have to wait again.

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  34. I hope the Ps4 has a better overall acceptance... Ps3..atleast to me...never really 'took off' the way ps2 did. it was so expensive at launch, and they were still releasing ps2 games, a lot of people just opted to stick with the ps2

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  35. there are a lot of ads on this page

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  36. Haha, after all the hacks, they are going to release a new system... xD

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  37. I hope that the PS4 has more games than the PS3...

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  38. mmm i'm definitely not buying it

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  39. ... i hope the new wii doesnt destoy this like it did with the 3

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  40. This is awesome! I still like the Xbox 360 though!

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  41. I think they need to have this new console out, to kind of bring them out of the bad press they got for the PSN deal.

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  42. PS3 still has a lot of life left.

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  43. Dont think they'll release a new console for some time. PS3 has some years to go still

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  44. I heard it's already been hacked!

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  45. PS4? shouldn't they be concentrating on playstation network... i don't think any1 will buy the new cosole until they are confident with psn

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  46. im so excited for the ps4, i cant wait till it comes out

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  47. yeah i expect that the ps4 is still at least 18 months away but i am looking forward to it

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  48. I hate these constant new consoles.

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  49. What adss said... I haven't gone past ps2 and I'm sticking with it

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  50. Nice read, but to be honest I think sony are going to have to wait a while to bring out another console, the ps3 has still got so much left to give! +follow for more news

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  51. looks pretty good i think ill give it a go

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