The data presented by Sony at the financial meeting held for investors shows that sales are below the targets.
Referring to the layoffs at Bungie, Hiroki Totoki, Sony’s CFO and COO, announced that PlayStation’s live service game plans have changed and only six games will be released by fiscal 2025. Additionally, Totoki added that he would only take over the management of PlayStation for one year.
PlayStation 5 Sales Cannot Reach Targets
Hiroki Totoki detailed the state of PlayStation during Sony’s quarterly financial conference call to investors and analysts. He also discussed layoffs at Bungie and the company’s plans for live service games.
Totoki stated that the rate of PS5 users among more than 107 million active PlayStation Network users has increased to “just over 40%”. He also stated that the time spent playing games increased by 4% annually in the last quarter.
Sony plans to stick to its goal of shipping 25 million PS5s in the current fiscal year, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024. He emphasized that PS5 Slim, the reduced size of PS5, and PlayStation Portal are important factors that are expected to increase sales momentum in the new year.
Sony admitted that it needed to ship an additional 16.8 million PS5 units between October and March to reach its lofty target, stating that reaching the target of 25 million units was ambitious.
Additionally, Totoki explained why Sony experienced greater losses on each PS5 unit in the last quarter due to technical issues related to exchange rates and parts lead times.
The executive acknowledged efforts to improve productivity and competitiveness regarding PlayStation studio layoffs at Bungie and other companies, and confirmed that Destiny 2’s developer had laid off nearly a hundred workers.
Stating that Sony’s announcement that it will release 12 live service games by fiscal year 2025 is being examined, Totoki acknowledged that the company has difficulty in meeting the expectations of the players, but emphasized their determination to produce quality games that will satisfy the players.
Finally, Totoki was asked about Jim Ryan’s role as CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Totoki announced that he was appointed chairman of the board of directors of PlayStation as of October 1 and will assume the role of acting CEO on April 1, 2024. In addition to taking on the task of finding a successor for Jim Ryan during this period, he stated that they want to fulfill this task in the best possible way, which is a strategic task for PlayStation.