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Totoki (SIE New Chairman Chairman): "Strong titles that achieve growth on PS5, PCs and other platforms will widen our margins"

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LakeOf9

Member
Q: [G&NS and I&SS segments] What will be the keys to improving your operating margin?

A: G&S segment: When it comes to PS5, one challenge that sets this console cycle apart from PS4 and previous generations is that we find it difficult to reduce our costs during the course of the cycle. Unlike high-spec PCs, PS consoles enable us to offer an immersive experience for many people in a safe environment with affordable price. To offer that kind of experience, with costs for components like chips and memory on the rise, one key will be that we continue to sell consoles without substantial discounts [during the course of its product life-cycle] by engaging in product planning that ensures affordability for consumers. Another driver will be first-party titles. Strong titles that achieve growth on PS5, PCs and other platforms will widen our margins. We believe that we have opportunities for margin improvement and intend to pursue them aggressively.
Source

This is now the official translation Sony themselves have provided on their website. We do not need to rely on Twitter translations and "analyses"

PS, PC, and "other platforms".
 
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near

Gold Member
No one will read anything but the following:

"PS5, PCs and other platforms"

"...PCs and other platforms..."


"...other platforms..."

lol
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
Knack Mobile App coming back
200.gif
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
As someone who primarily games on PC, I am 100% all for any and every game being on as many platforms as possible. It's already happening to a slow degree but it's obvious with the rising cost of games that it's more beneficial to get sales wherever possible than locking it into one ecosystem.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
What conclusion are we even reaching for here? Phones and Portal are other platforms and MLB is already on Xbox. No duh.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Sweet. Can’t wait to try Helldivers 2 on Xbox when the servers are fixed. Lol

Got to expand those margins. And it was proven porting costs were dirt cheap as someone has posted many times the PC port costs for some games were tiny and handled by a small crew.

Sony did this to themselves. If they kept their budgets in check and released more games faster they’d get higher margins. No wonder they do a lot of LOU remasters and remakes. High margin. There’s no way revamping the games costs anywhere close to grassroots dev costs.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
What conclusion are we even reaching for here? Phones and Portal are other platforms and MLB is already on Xbox. No duh.
MLB The Show is the forgotten game ever when it comes to multiplat chat. Game has been on Xbox since 2021 and switch since last year. And this years game it continues being on all consoles.
 

ProtoByte

Member
As someone who primarily games on PC, I am 100% all for any and every game being on as many platforms as possible. It's already happening to a slow degree but it's obvious with the rising cost of games that it's more beneficial to get sales wherever possible than locking it into one ecosystem.
None of this is going to actually fix the issue of lacking growth. The total number of sales is not going to change to such a degree that it makes a real difference.

People choose their platforms are they have based on tastes.
 

Mister Wolf

Member
They have the right strategy moving forward. It's what I would do. Consoles and PC releases day one. Most people cannot or will not build a PC that can perform at the same level as as a console. Which means their consoles will always be relevant. They should create their own PC marketplace though and make their games exclusive to it. Fuck paying a percentage to Valve.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Mobile and Cloud, but this will be another #SonyToo narrative.

You can already hear those xbox podcast clowns crawling out of their cave.
Hey you never know.

If this was 2019 where there was zero PC ports and no MLB on Xbox and switch, there isn’t one person on earth who would had guessed by early 2024 you got tons of PC ports, day one GAAS PC game and their baseball game on Xbox and switch.

At that time I don’t think even Sony execs had a concrete strategy yet going all the way to 2024 games. So anything can happen. Back then they hadn’t even bought Nixxes yet.
 
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DeaDPo0L84

Member
None of this is going to actually fix the issue of lacking growth. The total number of sales is not going to change to such a degree that it makes a real difference.

People choose their platforms are they have based on tastes.
We don't know that for sure cause we've never tried it on a large scale. Helldivers 2 is having enormous success due to launching on two platforms unlike previous Playstation titles. If you think they aren't looking at that and thinking how they can mirror that success moving forward you would be wrong. Same with Microsoft wanting to put live service games on Playstation, it's all money driven. None of these companies are concerned with the typical conversation surrounding consoles, in the end it's about money and how they can make more of it, whatever decision needs to be made to ensure that happens will be the path moving forward.
 

HisExcellency

Neo Member
MLB The Show is the forgotten game ever when it comes to multiplat chat. Game has been on Xbox since 2021 and switch since last year. And this years game it continues being on all consoles.
That's for obvious reasons though. It's not a change in strategy, or even an experiment. It's MLB telling them they *will* put this game on XBOX or they will find someone else to make their baseball game.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Still proving true

image0.jpg
Sony pillars are getting smaller. They already committed to selling 80% of their finance division to focus more on entertainment like games and movies. And that finance division was very consistently profitable. More profitable than most other pillars.

Which means the remaining pillars have to amp up on sales, profit and margin to cover that division spinning off. And gaming is Sonys biggest driver of financials.

So unless they can figure out how to grow gaming like crazy without going more PC or more competing console platforms (aside from baseball) the division will be trending at single digit margins again.

Their biggest hope for big growth is their other GAAS games coming soon doing gangbusters like Helldivers 2. Who knows. Maybe if concord, fairbank$, etc… are all killer games getting tons of profit and margin they don’t have to get more agressive with SP games in PC or anything else.

Or they try to replicate Grabd Fate Order which is their most profitable game ever and go for a GAAS mobile strategy too. Some reason the company doesn’t seem to want to do more mobile gaming despite that game being humongous.
 
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Interfectum

Member
MLB The Show is the forgotten game ever when it comes to multiplat chat. Game has been on Xbox since 2021 and switch since last year. And this years game it continues being on all consoles.
Sony didn't choose this, MLB did. It's not "the forgotten game" it's an anomaly. They are clearly talking about expanding into Mobile and Cloud for future growth... not putting their games on a dying console for scraps.
 
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Alebrije

Member
It seems that console prices won't be cheaper after lauch or even can cost more on next generations due to constant cost increase.
better get a Pro or PS6 at launch.
 
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Adam_802

Member
Sony pillars are getting smaller. They already committed to selling 80% of their finance division to focus more on entertainment like games and movies. And that finance division was very consistently profitable. More profitable than most other pillars.

Which means the remaining pillars have to amp up on sales, profit and margin to cover that division spinning off. And gaming is Sonys biggest driver of financials.

So unless they can figure out how to grow gaming like crazy without going more PC or more competing console platforms (aside from baseball) the division will be trending at single digit margins again.

Their biggest hope for big growth is their other GAAS games coming soon doing gangbusters like Helldivers 2. Who knows. Maybe if concord, fairbank$, etc… are all killer games getting tons of profit and margin they don’t have to get more agressive with SP games in PC or anything else.

Or they try to replicate Grabd Fate Order which is their most profitable game ever and go for a GAAS mobile strategy too. Some reason the company doesn’t seem to want to do more mobile gaming despite that game being humongous.

Yep that's why they're expanding outside of their console now. Things like Marathon also come to mind.
 
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I'm holding off any plans on a PS5 Pro or PS6 until SIE offer some actual definitive, non-ambiguous statements on their multiplatform strategy going forward. There's no sense spending hundreds on a console when I can get its 1P games, Xbox's 1P games, and virtually all 3P games on PC (via Steam) plus have access to PC-exclusive titles that never make it to console, and have free online play.

The optimist in me would believe Totoki is referring to the current strategy and maybe making some adjustments, but the way he is talking just sounds too spookily familiar to Phil Spencer's drivel to entertain and that's the cynic in me starting to fear a similar rot is going to set in for PlayStation and even Sony 1P games if they're set on following Microsoft's strategy of multiplatform (at the expense of their own console's identity and value proposition).

So many other ways they could curb costs, but he keeps talking about the laziest, short-sighted, and dumbest means of mitigating them. This industry deserves another crash at this point. Let greed destroy what used to be a great thing, it's already happened with Hollywood :/
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I don’t see how pc piracy will raise their margins outside of gaas.
Besides, on steam they pay 30%. It should be their goal to sell anything they can on their own psn/platform and control it all.
 
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