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Sony’s stock value drop by about $10b after lowering PS5’s sales forecast for the fiscal year, analysts question near decade-low profit margin

It's not just that, it's also the fact that they spent $300M on Spider-Man 2 but only made $75M from it.

It's EXTREMELY risky to spend that much and not make more profit.

Especially since the CEO of Sony said:



Even he's wondering where the money is going as a whole.

Also, funny titbit of info... Spider-Man 2 cost more to make than they spent on Insomniac.

Not sure where you're getting the profit numbers for Spider-Man 2, but a lot of things you need to consider that you don't seem to be

  • Spider-Man 2 isn't done selling. It's still extremely high on the charts given it released in October
  • Spider-Man 2 didn't just generate profit, it sold PS5 units, which generates profits
  • Spider-Man 2 will get a second lease on life with PC
  • Spider-Man 2 will probably get a third lease on life with PS5 Pro
  • Spider-Man 2 will probably get a fourth lease on life with PS6
  • The tech used for Spider-Man 2 will allow them to release Venom at a much cheaper cost
  • The tech used for Spider-Man 2 will allow them to develop Wolverine at a much cheaper cost
  • Sony is invested in bolstering the Spider-Man brand and the game franchise helps them do that
    • There will be people whose first experience with Spider-Man is Spider-Man 2

So the idea that the operating income generated from Spider-Man 2 in its first 5 months is representative of all the value it's worth, is pretty short-sighted.
 

poodaddy

Member
Part of what's driving up cost of development is the amount of unnecessary consultancy firms getting involved with AAA development which don't need to be there. Companies like Sweet Baby Inc. and similar, these companies actively detract from budget while doing nothing to improve the games. Cutting the grifters out of the games industry would go leagues towards improving profit margins in the industry, and it's a big part of why Nintendo's margins always remain extremely high. Their dev costs never balloon too far beyond expectations, and they don't involve useless grifters for imagined inclusivity based PR boosts that don't manifest.
 

RedC

Member
Can someone make an edit to the green rat on life support and turn him blue then post it in this thread please, Thanks you.
OIG2.fSI_vlTS094ONz8H.tT.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
They make carefully curated single player games more than anything else.

This remains the way to be successful in the video games industry.
Nearly all of their top selling games have either local and/or online multiplayer usually both except Zelda and Pokemon to a lesser extent.
 
Hopefully stuff like this spurs changes in their software output because it’s been kind of doodoo imho this gen. My PS5 has been a Factions machine basically. I did just install Ragnorok.

I think they need to change the way they make games. Article says Spider-Man 2 cost $300,000,000 to make. It’s a sequel to a game that is essentially the same game. How in the world does it cost so much to make. Imagine if FarCry 7 took place in the same area as FarCry 6 and Ubi spent 300m to make it. What the fuck.
 

RickMasters

Member
Dev costs have ballooned while the price on games have risen less equals lower margins? I’m in shock, in shock I tell you.

Way forward is more AI driven development or raising the price on games.


I’m thinking people are also really not understanding that the console market as a whole has plateaued. And with generation Alpha having little interest in traditional console gaming ( because they all would rather live in their tablets) I think it’s gonna be more obvious in a few years as they got from teens to young adults Over the. Next 10-15 years.
 

RickMasters

Member
Seeing lots of these doom and gloom Sony articles after all MS bad news recently.
Marvel Balance GIF


Sony having 10bn wiped off their market share has nothing to do with MS. The tech world is kind of turbulent right now . I get that Playstation is doing well but Sony as a company have their struggles ( the movie industry as a whole is suffering, the music biz is always in decline due to streaming, and their electronics departments are usually bested by the likes of Samsung and LG, they have their fair share of problems) . I wouldn’t take it personally.
 

RickMasters

Member
Sony from the 60s- 90s: electronics company leading in many fields from TV to audio.


Sony in 2024: the PlayStation company.



Maaaaan what is going on with Sony? I miss the days of trinitron TVs, Walkman and discmans, quality Hifi gear….. my C800 mic that I still have in service to this day!….. they used to make this great audio editing package called sounforge, which was great for editing samples before dropping them into cubase or a drum machine for example, by the way… I had Sony speakers and head unit in my Peugeot 206 GTi back in the day. They were an amazing company that made a whole bunch of wonder products that were doing well.


Honestly I miss the old Sony. Nowadays I feel like they are heading in the direction of Panasonic, being a company that just does one product. I just never imagined they would be in a place where the gaming division is the biggest thing over their while their other divisions either shrunk or closed down.
 

Alebrije

Member
meanwhile at Nintendo
Super League Money GIF by Anderson .Paak
Nintendo es the only true videogame company ,they are focused on that. They we're a Game company before move to videogames. Just recently they have been exploring other bussiness like movies and parks

Think this helps to release better games at lower cost.
 

RickMasters

Member
Hopefully stuff like this spurs changes in their software output because it’s been kind of doodoo imho this gen. My PS5 has been a Factions machine basically. I did just install Ragnorok.

I think they need to change the way they make games. Article says Spider-Man 2 cost $300,000,000 to make. It’s a sequel to a game that is essentially the same game. How in the world does it cost so much to make. Imagine if FarCry 7 took place in the same area as FarCry 6 and Ubi spent 300m to make it. What the fuck.


Good point. Spider-Man games always take place in NYC so they kid of get a pass for reusing assets. NYC looks like NYC, can’t really make it look to different anyway.
 

MarkMe2525

Member
We will probably have the expected overreaction, but this is probably an overzealous market adjustment. In no stock guru, but I have seen enough doom and gloom headlines in my lifetime to know a knee jerk reaction is unnecessary.
 

wolffy66

Member
People talking about Sony needing new games or more consoles sold are missing the point. They need more money per game not necessarily more games or more customers. It's about the return on the money invested and not the overall return.

A million $$ invested in Nintendo makes significantly more $$, than if it was invested in Sony. That's what they want to change
 

RickMasters

Member
People talking about Sony needing new games or more consoles sold are missing the point. They need more money per game not necessarily more games or more customers. It's about the return on the money invested and not the overall return.

A million $$ invested in Nintendo makes significantly more $$, than if it was invested in Sony. That's what they want to change
Nintendo don’t spend money on actors or mocap and other things. Their budget goes entirely into the game itself and then the marketing.


The real issue Sony have is the same as everybody else. AAA budgets are high and they they don’t make back enough money on any one platform. Not even theirs. That’s not a slight at Sony but simply the state of things in the business.


I think this is why we need to see more AA games come back into play, with an eye on quality mechanics and artistic mindsets. For the budget of a Zelda game Sony could make something a long the lines of the ICOs and shadow of rhe colossua type of games. They don’t focus on AAA values like acting and cinematic set peices in those games. They craft a solid game then wrap the story and the world around THAT. That’s how a game is supposed to be made. All this other stuff, like expensive facial capture tech and hair rendering tech, stuff that involves licences, so many thing that are just not really necessary to the game itself bloat the costs and devs keep doing it, trying to chase each others successes.


It’s not working out for anybody. As far as the money goes.
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
I don't think the cost of the console helps. Yeah inflation is a factor but in certain markets the exchange rate and taxes put the price pretty high. In my area of Canada a disc model PS5 after tax is essentially $750 CAD.
 
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I’ve been saying it unless Sony changes their business models and start maximizing their titles across multiple platforms like Microsoft is doing this will continue to be the trend. Hardware sales means nothing when Microsoft said this everyone thought it was a way of them being in last place. Being able to play those games every where is going to be way to go going forward. I hope they figure it out before it results in them having to make cuts or layoffs because Sony has really talented developers.
 

cash_longfellow

Gold Member
They lost almost 7% in the last 5 days, this is way too much to be a simple fluctuation and is directly related to their performance.
They lost 7% because people panic due to “analysts”. They will be back up that 7% again in a couple of months. I guarantee you. Unless you are a day trader, there is absolutely no reason to look at this short of a period of time with any stock.
 
Thats why we're going to get more multiplayer games and less high production single player games from Sony moving forward. They just cost way too much to make.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Simple solution. But these execs and publishers are retarded and fold to ridiculous gamer demands so easily.

"8 hOuR gAmEZ ArE ToO ShoRT We NeeED 50 HoUrZ!"

Make games shorter again. Like they used to be in the PS2 era 8-10 hours MAX. Preferably 5-6. Sell them anywhere from 40-60 bucks. Release them more frequently. Brings costs of AAA games down significantly. Still get a lot of sales.

Shorter games, released more frequently. Thats EXACTLY how it worked in the PS2 era.. you know.. the golden era of gaming.

Instead we get one long ass bloated shit every 7 years for 300 million dollars.

They will keep on losing billions until they figure it out.
 
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aclar00

Member
I did my part! Cancelled the shitty PS+ subscription (rather pay for online only at nuch cheaper price) after price hike and inability to stack via cards
 

Deerock71

Member
Welcome to the stock market game. I don't really see this as personally any gaming related in the same way as announcements. So it's great for the discussion and some people probably look at this as some bad news or others will know that this is the yin and yang of the market.

Isn't just one my best advice is to put all this stuff in a singular thread like the stock market thread.
id buy that for a dollar GIF

Oops.
 
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Simple solution. But these execs and publishers are retarded and fold to ridiculous gamer demands so easily.

"8 hOuR gAmEZ ArE ToO ShoRT We NeeED 50 HoUrZ!"

Make games shorter again. Like they used to be in the PS2 era 8-10 hours MAX. Preferably 5-6. Sell them anywhere from 40-60 bucks. Release them more frequently. Brings costs of AAA games down significantly. Still get a lot of sales.

Shorter games, released more frequently. Thats EXACTLY how it worked in the PS2 era.. you know.. the golden era of gaming.

Instead we get one long ass bloated shit every 7 years for 300 million dollars.

They will keep on losing billions until they figure it out.
is amazing how short games were in that era. (ps1-ps2).

but I don't think length is necessarily the issue but the level of fidelity and complexity of every aspect of game development that requires exponentially more people.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
Fanboys squirm and blame this imagined boogeyman of PC heavily cannibalizing PS sales, not based on any concrete data but rather "intuition," while continuing to ignore what multiple executives and analysts have said: that development costs are spiraling out of control. Time to face reality, friends, opening their catalogue to PC allows Sony to increase revenue streams and help offset ballooning costs so they can continue making the types of games you enjoy.
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
is amazing how short games were in that era. (ps1-ps2).

but I don't think length is necessarily the issue but the level of fidelity and complexity of every aspect of game development that requires exponentially more people.
that is true. but if you keep the same level of fidelity, and make a significantly shorter game, with the same amount of people working on it... you should be able to make 2-3 games a gen (like how they used to) at 40-60 bucks instead of just 1 for 70.

ND made Lost Legacy in 1 year. It was praised at the best Uncharted since 2. It was 50 bucks and 8 hours long. 1. Year. THATS the model they need to follow.
 

GHound

Member
Helldivers II is part of the answer but they'll only look at the GaaS lite part, ignoring all other aspects such as the gameplay focus, shorter dev cycle, and cheaper price.
 

reinking

Gold Member
I’ve been saying it unless Sony changes their business models and start maximizing their titles across multiple platforms like Microsoft is doing this will continue to be the trend. Hardware sales means nothing when Microsoft said this everyone thought it was a way of them being in last place. Being able to play those games every where is going to be way to go going forward. I hope they figure it out before it results in them having to make cuts or layoffs because Sony has really talented developers.
You notice the Xbox console sales are lagging behind? Xbox has the MS warchest to fund these moves. Sony cannot afford to kill their console sales right now. Look at the hit they just took. Now imagine their sales were closer to Xbox sales. I know everyone thinks the PC/multiplatform market will make up for it. I am not so sure because Sony’s strongest asset right now is the PlayStation brand and console. Kill it too soon and they are screwed.

People are overreacting a bit. Consoles are not dead no more than PC gaming was dead a few years ago when everyone was predicting it.
 
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I’ve been saying it unless Sony changes their business models and start maximizing their titles across multiple platforms like Microsoft is doing this will continue to be the trend. Hardware sales means nothing when Microsoft said this everyone thought it was a way of them being in last place. Being able to play those games every where is going to be way to go going forward. I hope they figure it out before it results in them having to make cuts or layoffs because Sony has really talented developers.
30% Cut baby. free money.

fMnIN4X.jpg
 

Vick

Member
ND made Lost Legacy in 1 year. It was praised at the best Uncharted since 2. It was 50 bucks and 8 hours long. 1. Year. THATS the model they need to follow.
Yeah I would agree here, I'd gladily take eight Lost Legacy over Ragnarök and Spider-Man 2.

Hell, I'd take Lost Legacy over Ragnarök and Spider-Man 2 in general.
 
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that is true. but if you keep the same level of fidelity, and make a significantly shorter game, with the same amount of people working on it... you should be able to make 2-3 games a gen (like how they used to) at 40-60 bucks instead of just 1 for 70.

ND made Lost Legacy in 1 year. It was praised at the best Uncharted since 2. It was 50 bucks and 8 hours long. 1. Year. THATS the model they need to follow.
and i don't think it sold better than U4.

This is the thing.

in theory you are right. but there is a dynamic between the size/production values of a game, it's marketing budget and its mainstream appeal/reach.

these AAA "sony games" serve a function in the market. they are a "necessary evil" if you wish.

sony has not really stopped making/producing/publishing "less expensive" games the issue is that those games ain't selling 20M copies.
 
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