Sony Interactive Entertainment has no major price cut or first party title planned for PS5 in the Fiscal Year ending March, 2025.
In its consolidated financial results for the Third Quarter Ended December 31, 2023, Sony Group revealed that it has no major price cut or first party title planned for PS5 in the Fiscal Year ending March, 2025. The company expects a gradual decline in PS5 hardware unit sales as well as a decrease in software sales, with no plan for release of major first party franchise titles during this period.
In terms of the software breakdown, Sony Group expects a slight decrease in first party software profit, a gradual expansion of third party software sales, and also a gradual expansion of revenue pertaining to network services. The company also expects the burden of acquisition-related costs to ease in the coming fiscal year.
Regarding the possibility of a price cut for PS5, Sony Group stated that a drastic cut on price similar to what the company did with PS4 is difficult, as room to cut on production cost for PS5 is limited in comparison to PS4.
Previously, during an interview on the Norges Bank Investment Management YouTube channel, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida had stated that, while the company offers a game subscription business model, people usually play one game at a time, therefore an ‘all you can eat’ type of lineup of games may not be valuable in comparison to video streaming services. He mentioned that Sony offers a balanced/hybrid service on PlayStation Network, which includes a subscription i.e. PS Plus, as well as pay per content.
Meanwhile, on the subject of gaming in general, Yoshida stated that he sees the future as ubiquitous, and that users will be able to play their favorite games wherever there is computing. He added that, while PlayStation will remain Sony’s core product, the company will expand its gaming experiences to PC, mobile, and cloud.
