Sony 'Not Planning a Major Financial Loss' with PS4
Has learned from PS3 development.
He's getting a few things right, isn't he?
Sony has insisted that it will not be repeating the financial mistakes of the PlayStation 3 with the launch of the PlayStation 4, revealing that it has been a bit more prudent with its hardware development costs.
In a call with investors, CFO Masaru Kato said, "Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4. At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip. Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves.
"This time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don't have to make all the investment in-house."
The call following the publication of Sony's fiscal results for the financial year. After suffering a catastrophic loss last year, CEO Kaz Hirai has slightly turned the corporation's fortunes around, seeing an annual profit of 43 billion yen ($458 million).
But, its PlayStation business didn't come out smelling of roses. Operating income plummeted by a monstrous 94 per cent to $18 million, while game sales were down 12.2 per cent. Combined home console sales (PS3 and PS2) totalled 16.5 million units, down from 18 million the year before. While PSP and Vita sales saw a rise (7 million to last year's 6.8 million), Sony saw less money from the uptick due to Japan's Vita price cut.
Looking ahead, Kato was optimistic. "Sales are expected to increase significantly, primarily due to the planned introduction of the PlayStation 4 in the fiscal year ending 31st March 2014." He didn't say how many PS4 consoles the company expected to sell in that period, though. Sony does plan on selling 10 million PS3s though, as well as 5 million PSP and Vitas.
Thanks, Eurogamer
In a call with investors, CFO Masaru Kato said, "Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4. At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip. Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves.
"This time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don't have to make all the investment in-house."
The call following the publication of Sony's fiscal results for the financial year. After suffering a catastrophic loss last year, CEO Kaz Hirai has slightly turned the corporation's fortunes around, seeing an annual profit of 43 billion yen ($458 million).
But, its PlayStation business didn't come out smelling of roses. Operating income plummeted by a monstrous 94 per cent to $18 million, while game sales were down 12.2 per cent. Combined home console sales (PS3 and PS2) totalled 16.5 million units, down from 18 million the year before. While PSP and Vita sales saw a rise (7 million to last year's 6.8 million), Sony saw less money from the uptick due to Japan's Vita price cut.
Looking ahead, Kato was optimistic. "Sales are expected to increase significantly, primarily due to the planned introduction of the PlayStation 4 in the fiscal year ending 31st March 2014." He didn't say how many PS4 consoles the company expected to sell in that period, though. Sony does plan on selling 10 million PS3s though, as well as 5 million PSP and Vitas.
Thanks, Eurogamer
Companies:
Sony
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Comments
DrkStr 9 May 2013 12:16
1/1
You don't think that operating profit "plummeted" due to developing the PS4 do you?