In a meeting with its investors, Sony presented the state and future of its PlayStation brand.
Sony made a presentation to its investors this week to talk about its future in video games. The moment to take stock of the PlayStation strategy with very concrete figures to chew on.
41% of PS4 / PS5 gamers are female gamers
The first observation made by Sony concerns its customers. Who are the PlayStation players on the PS4 generation and the start of the PS5 generation?
The figure to remember is in the middle, almost one in two players is now a player. A proportion that has changed a lot since the 18% player of the PlayStation. Sony’s strategy of making more inclusive games with strong female characters like Aloy or Ellie seems to be paying off. A good lesson to remember for other video game boxes whose editorial line and working methods seem rooted in the past.
We also learn that the average age of the PlayStation player is on the rise, again a cause or a consequence of the more mature comments of PlayStation Studios titles for several years. Sony says it wants to continue on this path, but also geographically expand the PlayStation brand into new markets.
The PS5 Standard Edition will no longer be sold at a loss
We repeat it regularly on Frandroid, the economic model of game consoles often involves a sale at a loss of the device compensated by the commission on the sales of games and the profits made on the subscriptions. The PlayStation 5 is no exception to this rule so far. Even the model marketed at 500 euros has been sold at a loss by Sony since the launch of the console, which does not prevent the giant from having a record year.
In its presentation, Sony indicated that the Standard Edition model of the PlayStation 5, the one equipped with a Blu-ray player, will no longer be sold at a loss from June 2021. The model at 400 euros should remain in deficit for some time to come. Its price is subsidized by the fact that its owners are forced to go through the PlayStation Store where the commission is more favorable to Sony than on physical games.
Sony also mentions that the share of turnover linked to the sale of games, services and accessories now represents 80% against 52% at the start of the PlayStation 4 generation. PlayStation to make a banner year on a generation launch year (usually a loss year). Sony also announced that the PlayStation Plus now has 48 million paid subscriptions.
Uncharted 4 sort sur PC
For several months now, Sony has released its exclusive PlayStation Studios games on PC. We saw it in particular with Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone.
In this presentation, the firm announces that Uncharted 4 will be next on the list. This is a much larger title than the previous two in the PlayStation catalog, a sign that Sony really wants to extend its ecosystem beyond the console. The presentation also talks about the success of free to play games and PlayStation’s desire to expand into mobile gaming.
For Sony, targeting the PC with its games and also a way of reaching markets such as India, China or Russia, which historically have very few game console customers for various reasons.
Horizon Forbidden West and Spider-Man Miles Morales are coming to cloud gaming
The cloud gaming market is often seen as the future of video games. This is clearly a segment in which many companies are investing. Sony is in a somewhat special position where the PlayStation Now service is at the same time a pioneer, it is one of the first services in the world, and at the same time seems to lag behind the competition.
The firm intends to make PlayStation Now one of its next growth vectors. The service recently upgraded its streaming to 1080p and wants to win over more customers with its growing catalog of exclusives. We learn that Spider-Man Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West should eventually be offered on the service.
We can also see that now the majority of PlayStation Now subscribers download their games to the console like Xbox Game Pass. This is a possibility that is rarely put forward when we talk about the service, but which makes it possible to overcome the constraints of the internet connection during the game.
Sony to open PlayStation Direct store in France
The last piece of information concerns us more directly in Europe. Sony plans to expand its PlayStation Direct store this year, which is already present in the United States on the old continent.
It will therefore be possible to buy your PlayStation directly from Sony in France, Belgium or Luxembourg before March 2022. We imagine that this will also facilitate the management of stocks of PS5 consoles for Sony. Above all, the firm will be able to earn more money on the sale of its consoles by removing a new intermediary.
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