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[Luminoth-4545]

Credit: Lelouch0612

Sony Q3 FY3/2024 Financial Results (Oct- Dec 2023) | GN&S sales up by 16% YoY, OI down by 26%; PS5 HW at 8,2m, SW at 89,7m, new forecast + SM2 at 10m

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/ Q3 sales Hardware - 8,2M (+15% YoY) Software - 89,7M (+4% YoY) Q1-Q3 Cumulative sales Hardware - 16,4M (+28% YoY) Software - 213,8M (+9% YoY) Spider-Man 2 sold through 10m units by February 4th, 2024 New forecast: Sales are...

www.installbaseforum.com

Q3 sales

Hardware - 8.2M (+15% YoY)
Software - 89.7M (+4% YoY)

Q1-Q3 Cumulative sales

Hardware - 16.4M (+28% YoY)
Software - 213.8M (+9% YoY)

Spider-Man 2 sold through 10M units by February 4th, 2024

New forecast:

Sales are expected to be lower than the November forecast, mainly due to an expected decrease in sales of hardware resulting from lower unit sales, partially offset by the impact of foreign exchange rates and an expected increase in sales of non-first-party titles including add-on content. Operating income and Adjusted OIBDA are expected to remain unchanged from the November forecast mainly due to the impact of the above-mentioned increase in sales of non-first-party titles, substantially offset by an expected increase in losses from hardware mainly due to promotions.

New Hardware forecast is 21M (down from 25M), hardware sales expected to be at 4.6M in Q4.

Outlook for the next FY

 

[lh032]

"with no plan for release of major franchise titles"

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Global Calendar year 2023 Hardware, numbers in brackets are the quarterly sales.

PS5: 22.70 million (6.30 + 3.30 + 4.90 + 8.20)
NSW: 16.81 million (3.07 + 3.91 + 2.93 + 6.90)
XBS: 7.60 million est. (1.20 + 1.30 + 1.70 + 3.40)
Total: 47.11 million

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

"Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service game. But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year (ends March 31, 2025) like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Although the burden of acquisition related costs will ease next fiscal year, we expect profit from first-party software to decrease slightly from this fiscal year due to the impact of the decrease in sales. Due to this, operating income for the next fiscal year is currently expected to increase slightly from this fiscal year. However, while this our baseline, we are reviewing measures for further improvement in profitability in advance of the annual forecast results announcement this May."

New CEO interim Hiroki Totoki (the finance guy) will take over from April 1st so I wonder how they plan on improving profitability. Hope it's not layoffs...

 

[Elios83]

Sony Interactive Entertainment will not release “any new major existing franchise titles” before March 31, 2025

Sony Interactive Entertainment does not plan to release “any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year,” which begins on April 1, 2023 and ends on March 31, 2025, the company…

www.gematsu.com

“Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service games,” Sony Group president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said. “But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year (Editor’s Note: begins April 1, 2024 and ends March 31, 2025) like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
“Regarding the PlayStation 5 hardware, which will enter its fifth year since launch, partially due to its entering the latter half of the console cycle, we aim to optimize sales with a greater emphasis on balance with profits, so we anticipate a gradual decline in unit sales from next fiscal year onwards,” Totoki said. “We expect third-party software sales to continue to expand gradually due to the expansion of the PlayStation 5 install base and the high level of user engagement. In network services, we expect subscribers to be on par with this fiscal year or slightly less due to the impact of price revision we implemented in this fiscal year, but we expect sales to gradually expand due to a shift to attractive premium services.”

 

[Astray]

New CEO interim Hiroki Totoki (the finance guy) will take over from April 1st so I wonder how they plan on improving profitability. Hope it's not layoffs...

%100 will be layoffs.

 

[ProtoByte]

"with no plan for release of major franchise titles"

I thought everyone wanted new IP and Japanese games. Not just the "cinematic rehashes" that characterize their major franchise titles. Isn't this a good thing?

Spoiler

I'm not going to be obtuse; I understand that people's problem here will be the general "lack of output". But beyond me thinking that's a ridiculous characterization of the state of things, comparatively or otherwise, I wonder what exactly people expect. Game dev timelines are taking longer for everyone. Just last week, Rocksteady released their first game in most of 9 years. Monolith will not have Wonder Woman out this year, and so will be 7-8 years without releasing a game.

Unless you're willing to say that game devs should get back in the office and crunch like it's 2010, there's nothing surprising or solvable here.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Hardware sales are up 1.1 million year over year for the quarter and after Q3 hardware totals 16.4 million versus 12.8 million last fiscal year.

PS5 Versus PS4

For the 3rd quarter of the 3rd full fiscal year (yellow) the 8.2 million the PS5 shipped is 1.5 million down on PS4's 9.7 million and after 13 quarters the PS5 totals 54.8 million compared to 57.3 million for the PS4. This means launch aligned the PS5 is 2.5 million behind PS4.

PS5 versus current competitors

After 13 quarters the PS5 totals 54.8 million compared to 28.7 million (est) for XBS and 55.77 million for NSW. This means launch aligned the PS5 is 26.1 million (est) ahead of the XBS and 0.97 million behind the NSW.

Note: XBS hardware shipments are my personal estimates based on the limited information available.

 

[FoxMcChief]

"Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service game. But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year (ends March 31, 2025) like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Although the burden of acquisition related costs will ease next fiscal year, we expect profit from first-party software to decrease slightly from this fiscal year due to the impact of the decrease in sales. Due to this, operating income for the next fiscal year is currently expected to increase slightly from this fiscal year. However, while this our baseline, we are reviewing measures for further improvement in profitability in advance of the annual forecast results announcement this May."

New CEO interim Hiroki Totoki (the finance guy) will take over from April 1st so I wonder how they plan on improving profitability. Hope it's not layoffs...

Narrator: It was layoffs.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

"with no plan for release of major franchise titles"

I love that Sony gets hate for making sequels but also gets hate for making original IP...

Which is it?

The only games that could even possibly get major releases in franchises would be Ghost of Tsushima, Uncharted, and the Last of Us, everything else has already received a sequel this generation, and TLOU and GoT just came out in 2020.

So you can't ask for original IP and get upset that there isn't a major game released from an existing franchise every single calendar year.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

These sales would be considered pretty good if they hadn't gone crazy with that 25 million forecast, the PS5 is just far too expensive to shift those kinds of numbers. The new forecast of 21 million is still very high and 1 million above the PS4's best fiscal year.

 

[Three]

Spideman 2 hit its 7.2M target and did about 3M extra so far. That's good to hear.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Hardware sales are up 1.1 million year over year for the quarter and after Q3 totals 16.4 million versus 12.8 million last fiscal year.

PS5 Versus PS4

For the 3rd quarter of the 3rd full FY (yellow) the 8.2 million the PS5 shipped is 1.5 million down on PS4's 9.7 million. After 13 quarters PS5 totals 54.8 million compared to 57.3 million for PS4. This means launch aligned the PS5 is 2.5 million behind PS4.

PS5 versus current competitors

After 13 quarters PS5 totals 54.8 million compared to 28.7 million (est) for XBS and 55.77 million for NSW. This means launch aligned the PS5 is 26.1 million (est) ahead of XBS and 0.97 million behind NSW.

It's worth noting here that the Ps4 pro had already released at this point. I expect that should help Sony make up the difference in hardware sales once it actually comes out, though they might price it for a higher margin, so who knows.

 

[lh032]

I thought everyone wanted new IP and Japanese games. Not just the "cinematic rehashes" that characterizr their major franchise titles. Isn't this a good thing?

Spoiler

I'm not going to be obtuse; I understand that people's problem here will be the general "lack of output". But beyond me thinking that's a ridiculous characterization of the state of things, comparatively or otherwise, I wonder what exactly people expect. Game dev timelines are taking longer for everyone. Just last week, Rocksteady released their first game in most of 9 years. Monolith will not have Wonder Woman out this year, and so will be 7-8 years without releasing a game.

Unless you're willing to that game devs should get back in the office and crunch like it's 2010, there's nothing surprising or solvable here.

I love that Sony gets hate for making sequels but also gets hate for making original IP...

Which is it?

The only games that could even possibly get major releases in franchises would be Ghost of Tsushima, Uncharted, and the Last of Us, everything else has already received a sequel this generation, and TLOU and GoT just came out in 2020.

So you can't ask for original IP and get upset that there isn't a major game released from an existing franchise every single calendar year.

Tbh, new IP or sequels, it takes way too long to release the actual games.

 

[Robb]

25M was a long shot, but hitting 21 is still crazy good.

Sad to hear about the first party output though. Maybe I’ll hold off on that Ps5 Pro purchase this year after all.. I really thought the output would be better by now.

Nintendo is managing to churn out a new game almost every month. Sony should start releasing more smaller high quality games alongside these huge productions.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Spideman 2 hit its 7.2M target and did about 3M extra so far. That's good to hear.

That 7.2 million breakeven number never seemed accurate.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

25M was a long shot, but hitting 21 is still crazy good.

Sad to hear about the first party output though. Maybe I’ll hold off on that Ps5 Pro purchase this year after all.. I really thought the output would be better by now.

Nintendo is managing to churn out a new game almost every month. Sony should start releasing more smaller high quality games alongside these huge productions.

First, they'll probably miss the 21 million as well.

Second, the output is largely fine long term. PS5 Pro especially will be great for back catalog gaming and games like GTA6. Why did you think the output would be higher than it is despite the pandemic and longer development cycles and a lack of crunch?

Nintendo doesn't release a new game almost every month, that's just in your head. Sony releasing MORE titles wouldn't help it with overall sales.. We already have a problem with too many games on the market.

Sony publishes and/or promotes quite a few small titles that they ultimately don't get much credit for like Returnal, Kena, Stray, Sifu, Deathloop, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade e.t.c.

 

[ProtoByte]

25M was a long shot, but hitting 21 is still crazy good.

Sad to hear about the first party output though. Maybe I’ll hold off on that Ps5 Pro purchase this year after all.. I really thought the output would be better by now.

Nintendo is managing to churn out a new game almost every month. Sony should start releasing more smaller high quality games alongside these huge productions.

People don't want smaller titles from Sony or on their PS5. We can get anal about the exclusivity of Rise of The Ronin, Stellar Blade, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth or Helldivers 2 (all the kinds of games people constantly critique Sony for not publishing, I will note) but the fact is that those games are coming in quick succession to PS5 under some exclusivity, not counting the surrounding non-exclusives. If you've got nothing to play on your PS5 by now, you're entitled to your tastes and standards, but must admit that they're quite high and stringent.

I would also greatly contend the notion that Nintendo's model is on the up and up. The Switch has gone through multiple droughts almost as bad as the Wii U.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Strong support from 3rd parties for the first 3/4 of this year. FF7 and others.

Then late 2024 and 2025 you have the combo of the Pro for the enthusiasts which may see the base model have a permanent price reduction. Then add on top the monster that will be GTA6 I think PS5 will have a good final 4-5 years. Much more to come from the 3rd parties and then eventually the 1st party.

 

[Three]

That 7.2 million breakeven number never seemed accurate.

As in its cost was overinflated or too low? I'm pretty sure they've surpassed the target. The cost was including everything at Insomniac.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

These sales would be considered pretty good if they hadn't gone crazy with that 25 million forecast, the PS5 is just far too expensive to shift those kinds of numbers. The new forecast of 21 million is still very high and 1 million above the PS4's best Fiscal year.

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS OUT LOUD

Finally, some grown-ups in the room.

The results are still fantastic all across the board.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

As in it cost was overinflated or too low? I'm pretty sure they've surpassed the target. The cost was including everything at Insomniac.

It just wasn't based on the actual cost of the game or the copies needed to sell. It was misconstrued based on staffing.

I have no doubt that the game is profitable and will continue to be profitable as it sells year in and year out for the rest of the PlayStation 5 life cycle and when it ports to PC for the next 5-10 years.

 

[onQ123]

What 1st party sequel were people expecting this year?

We would have known about any big games like God Of War or The Last of Us 3 by now

 

[Mibu no ookami]

What 1st party sequel were people expecting this year?

We would have known about any big games like God Of War or The Last of Us 3 by now

Just people being disingenuous.

The only title we thought MIGHT come out in 2024 until recently was Wolverine, which still would be a new IP.

That they only think software sales will be slightly down would suggest they still have some bangers they're going to release this year, if cumulatively it needs to do nearly as well as Spider-Man 2 (though Spider-Man 2 will help next fiscal year as well).

 

[The artful mincer]

I thought everyone wanted new IP and Japanese games. Not just the "cinematic rehashes" that characterize their major franchise titles. Isn't this a good thing?

Spoiler

I'm not going to be obtuse; I understand that people's problem here will be the general "lack of output". But beyond me thinking that's a ridiculous characterization of the state of things, comparatively or otherwise, I wonder what exactly people expect. Game dev timelines are taking longer for everyone. Just last week, Rocksteady released their first game in most of 9 years. Monolith will not have Wonder Woman out this year, and so will be 7-8 years without releasing a game.

Unless you're willing to say that game devs should get back in the office and crunch like it's 2010, there's nothing surprising or solvable here.

You can do what square did and stick to a last gen engine.

Oh but people don't like that either. Cloud's face looks bad if you zoom in and they saw some bad textures in the demo!

 

[kyussman]

So,has Spider-Man 2 started making a profit yet.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"with no plan for release of major franchise titles"

Oh boy, Nintendo is going to make a bank this winter.

 

[Robb]

People don't want smaller titles from Sony or on their PS5

One of the best games I’ve tried out on Ps5 is Astros Playroom. Small, amazing game imo. I’d be extremely happy to get more of that kind of stuff.

If you've got nothing to play on your PS5 by now, you're entitled to your tastes and standards, but must admit that they're quite high and stringent.

I don’t have a Ps5 right now, but I’m sure I’d find plenty to play. The first party stuff is the reason I buy their systems at all though. If they don’t deliver on that I can find the rest elsewhere. Same with Nintendo.

 

[Three]

What 1st party sequel were people expecting this year?

We would have known about any big games like God Of War or The Last of Us 3 by now

People pretending like they didn't know this just because it makes it seem like nothing is coming this year. There are plenty of new IPs releasing this year. xbox has no major first party franchise IPs releasing this year either and Nintendo is sparse too even though they live off major franchises.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Holy shit at those margins. If they try harder they can reach 1%

 

[Mibu no ookami]

People pretending like they didn't know this just because it makes it seem like nothing is coming this year. There are plenty of new IPs releasing this year. xbox has no major first party franchise IPs releasing this year either and Nintendo is sparse too even though they live off major franchises.

To be fair, they haven't had a major franchise release since Halo Infinite and we know how that turned out. That was in 2021... So what do we make of 2022-2024...

It's funny how Sony gets held to the highest standards.

 

[Three]

One of the best games I’ve tried out on Ps5 is Astros Playroom. Small, amazing game imo. I’d be extremely happy to get more of that kind of stuff.

The fact that Team Asobi still haven't announced what they've been working on or how it hasn't leaked is a mystery to me.

 

[Astray]

Holy shit at those margins. If they try harder they can reach 1%

Almost makes you think about that one company that hasn't announced gaming margins in more than a decade now.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The fact that Team Asobi still haven't announced what they've been working on or how it hasn't leaked is a mystery to me.

Sony has been pretty good at limiting internal leaks.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I think Sony's goals of reaching games that hit that 90 plus mark is going to result in a relative dry period, but will also pay dividends in 2025, 2026, and 2027.


PlayStation wants half of its releases to be new PS5 IP by 2025

 

[Loomy]

New CEO interim Hiroki Totoki (the finance guy) will take over from April 1st so I wonder how they plan on improving profitability. Hope it's not layoffs...

It's going to be layoffs

 

[Salty Popsicle]

To be fair, they haven't had a major franchise release since Halo Infinite and we know how that turned out. That was in 2021... So what do we make of 2022-2024...

It's funny how Sony gets held to the highest standards.

Leave Sony Alone™

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Sony has been pretty good at limiting internal leaks.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I think Sony's goals of reaching games that hit that 90 plus mark is going to result in a relative dry period, but will also pay dividends in 2025, 2026, and 2027.


PlayStation wants half of its releases to be new PS5 IP by 2025

We just going to forget about the entire Wolverine game code and detailed story outline getting leaked a few months back?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

We just going to forget about the entire Wolverine game code and detailed story outline getting leaked a few months back?

Internal leaks. Jesus fuck, people can't read. I couldn't have been more clear.

 

[GHG]

Internal leaks. Jesus fuck, people can't read. I couldn't have been more clear.

Sometimes the avatar is a perfect fit for the poster.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Internal leaks. Jesus fuck, people can't read. I couldn't have been more clear.

Are you living in an alternate reality where Insomniac is not owned by Sony and the Wolverine game is a 3rd party title?

 

[Clear]

Note: It's EXISTING franchises that they are discounting. Not new franchises or first-party output generally.

Pretty obvious announcement given DS2 has been pushed to 2025, so its pretty much a nothing-burger despite how some people are interpreting it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

What 1st party sequel were people expecting this year?

We would have known about any big games like God Of War or The Last of Us 3 by now

No Ghost Of Tsushima 2?

What games do they actually have for 2024. Sony have been more or less silent this entire generation and it feels like their fanbase still defends them quite heavily. They released one game last year, and it looks like zero for this year from First party studios, yet they are rewarded with good will from their loyal fanbase.

Anyway, still an amazing year to shift 21 million consoles, but I expect we could see a considerable drop this year and more people migrating to PC.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Are you living in an alternate reality where Insomniac is not owned by Sony and the Wolverine game is a 3rd party title?

Internal leaks. As in, people inside the company leaking shit

Dumbass lmao

 

[Three]

Holy shit at those margins. If they try harder they can reach 1%

I don't understand, their margin is ~6% already.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Are you living in an alternate reality where Insomniac is not owned by Sony and the Wolverine game is a 3rd party title?

Insomniac was hacked by an external party. That is not the same as an internal leak where an employee leaks information on purpose.

The reason why we haven't heard from studios like Asobi is because Sony has been pretty good at preventing internal leaks. External leaks are a whole other matter.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

Internal leaks. As in, people inside the company leaking shit

Dumbass lmao

The entire story about it being a ransom by a no name hacker group is fake. Jason Schreier is writing an article as we speak corroborating my words.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

The entire story about it being a ransome by a no name hacker group is fake. Jason Schreier is writing an article as we speak corroborating my words.

I did an ELI5 for you and you still couldn't grasp it. Holy shit dude go back to school lmao

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No Ghost Of Tsushima 2?

What games do they actually have for 2024. Sony have been more or less silent this entire generation and it feels like their fanbase still defends them quite heavily. They released one game last year, and it looks like zero for this year from First party studios, yet they are rewarded with good will from their loyal fanbase.

Anyway, still an amazing year to shift 21 million consoles, but I expect we could see a considerable drop this year and more people migrating to PC.

We didn't know about Until Dawn until a week or so ago and its coming this year...

We have no idea what their slate of games look like, all we know is it won't have their major existing tentpole games.

There was no way Ghost of Tsushima was coming out this year. They're working on a Ghost of Tsushima move. On the outside chance it comes out this year, they'll prioritize the PC game coming out first with a sequel coming out most likely next year.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Here's another lengthy quote from Sony's COO, Hiroki Totoki, via Gematsu:

"Actually, I am the chairperson [of SIE]. It's been about four months, and I am trying to demonstrate leadership and trying to have as many meetings as possible with the management team. I also visit studios and everyone is working really hard to fulfill their responsibility to try to optimize the business, and I understand that. But overall growth and sustainable profitability or increasing margin, how will that translate to these goals? I don't think people understand that deeply. I think that is the problem of the organization. So as far as I'm concerned, I try to understand what is happening in the company, in the industry, and also in the perspective of the analysts, and try to explain in a transparent manner so that people can recognize and notice these issues so that we can have a harmonized approach going forward. That is a very general comment since I became the chairperson. There are concrete points which I will not go into today.

"Now, about visiting the studios, and I've had meetings with the leaders there, the studios. People who work in the studios have very high motivation. They're very highly motivated. They're very good people. And they're very creative people. They have great creative minds. And they also have knowledge about live streaming. However, having said that, when it comes to the business itself, I think there is room for improvement. And that's got to do about how to use the money or about the schedule of development or how to fulfill one's accountability towards development, et cetera. Those are my frank impressions. So I will continue to engage in dialogue with the people so that we can find the right way to proceed."

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Here's another lengthy quote from Sony's COO, Hiroki Totoki, via Gematsu:

"Actually, I am the chairperson [of SIE]. It's been about four months, and I am trying to demonstrate leadership and trying to have as many meetings as possible with the management team. I also visit studios and everyone is working really hard to fulfill their responsibility to try to optimize the business, and I understand that. But overall growth and sustainable profitability or increasing margin, how will that translate to these goals? I don't think people understand that deeply. I think that is the problem of the organization. So as far as I'm concerned, I try to understand what is happening in the company, in the industry, and also in the perspective of the analysts, and try to explain in a transparent manner so that people can recognize and notice these issues so that we can have a harmonized approach going forward. That is a very general comment since I became the chairperson. There are concrete points which I will not go into today.

"Now, about visiting the studios, and I've had meetings with the leaders there, the studios. People who work in the studios have very high motivation. They're very highly motivated. They're very good people. And they're very creative people. They have great creative minds. And they also have knowledge about live streaming. However, having said that, when it comes to the business itself, I think there is room for improvement. And that's got to do about how to use the money or about the schedule of development or how to fulfill one's accountability towards development, et cetera. Those are my frank impressions. So I will continue to engage in dialogue with the people so that we can find the right way to proceed."

The mans about to come through the doors with an axe