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Sony won’t be repeating its loss-making PS3 strategy with the PS4, with the launch of the next generation console unlikely to incur a major loss, the platform holder has revealed.
Despite the PS3’s high launch price the system was sold at a loss, and it wasn’t until July 2010 that Sony was able to confirm the console was no longer bleeding money. This is a situation Sony has no intention of repeating.
“Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4,” Sony CFO Masaru Kato told investors earlier today during an earnings call.
He added: “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. But 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.”
Sony didn’t offer any sales forecast for the PS4, but Kato did state that overall “sales are expected to increase significantly, primarily due to the planned introduction of the PlayStation 4 in the fiscal year ending 31st March 2014”.
Despite the arrival of the PS4 Sony expects to ship 10 million PS3 in the year ending March 31, 2014, with five million PS Vita/PSP units also shipping – the handheld figure is a concern, being two million units down on what was achieved in the previous year.
Source: Earnings call transcribed by Eurogamer
