Sony To Focus On PS3 As A “Stable Source Of Profit”

Despite its February reveal (and 2013 release) of the PlayStation 4, Sony hasn’t given up on the PS3 and will continue to reinforce the console’s position as a “stable source of profit” according to the platform holder’s latest Corporate Strategy Meeting.

“PlayStation 3 continues to deliver stable hardware and software sales,” says the report, “and Sony will continue to reinforce the business’ position as a stable source of profit. In particular, the Company will seek to grow sales of content and services through PlayStation Store and contribute to profit.”

The report also mentions the Vita. “The Company will aim to secure further sales and profit through various hardware sales initiatives and the introduction of compelling software titles,” it says, suggesting further bundles and perhaps a price drop.

In terms of the PS4, the report highlights that “smartphone and tablet users” will be able to share in the enjoyment of the next-gen console “without owning one”, suggesting plenty of cross-media game and application functionality, which is interesting.

Sony is targeting a 2% operating income margin for PlayStation in financial year 2014.

Source: Sony.net.

17 Comments

  1. 100% understandable, but it reminds of the fact the PS2 just wouldn’t die and the PS3’s difficult first 2 years until the amazing 2009 ‘relaunch’ consisting of Slim, price drop & Uncharted 2.

    We know they’ll be losing money on the next-gen, although it has been noted it’s not as much as PS3 so the only way Sony can make money over the next year or 2 is by keeping the PS3 in the spotlight.

    I just hope PS4 install base grows rapidly so the next gen will see the PS4 become the primary development console and multiplatform projects will be ported to the Xbox One, rather than the other way around meaning the PS4 GPU might not be put to full use.

    • Youve mentioned one of my major worries with next gen. If the XBOX one isnt as powerfull graphically I can see multi plat developers developing for xbox and porting to PS4 and not the other way round. I hope this doesnt happen but if what has happened this gen is anything to go by.

      • I can see your point, but at the same time wasn’t the xbox used as the lead last time around because it was considered to be more powerful to 3rd parties (easier to extract)?
        I should think that they would use the most powerful platform then scale down. That is the way they do it when the PC is also involved. You build your assets for the best platform then scale back to meet the others.
        Given the fact that their architectures are very similar (and to a PC), it would make sense to build up and scale back than leave the PS4 with headroom

      • Thankfully, I’m not so sure. It should be easy to dial it up or down for platforms this time around even if it is just a bump up on textures or objects (like Hitman Absolution on the PC). If the X1 becomes the gimpy-legged, chubby child of the three it’ll still get lovin’. Just not as much – which makes perfect sense. :-P

    • If this is the case I’ll be sticking mainly to exclusives.

    • Agreed, fella. There’ll be over 80 million PS3s so you only have to churn out something passable and it should sell well. :-)

      As oppose to having 100% market penetration on the PS4 and hoping all eight people in the UK who’ve bought it have picked up a particular game.

      No wait… that’s how it was with the PS3 launch and a handful of people imported the Japanese console on day one. Was very funny. :-)

  2. Hardly surprising given Sony’s typical “10 year plan” but good to hear nonetheless as I will no doubt keep my PS3 and trade in my 360 come next-gen.

  3. Sony did say that the PS4 wasn’t a replacement for the PS3.
    You’ll need your PS3 to play your £125,000 copy of Grid 2 Mono Edition on anyway.

    • Ohh, is that a Zavvi exclusive?

  4. That’s very understandable. Not everyone rushes out to get the next big thing in gaming. Many people will be happy with their downports of new multiplatform titles for years to come. Hopefully the PS4 get’s off to a good start, though.

  5. Good to hear as I’ll be hanging on to my PS3 until it dies. (but I hope it doesn’t)
    And I’m with CC on the fact that I hope PS4 sells by the bucketload & developers develop games for PS4 in mind and then port them over to the XBOne (hate that name btw)

    • I’ve already started calling it the x-Bone. Stupid name.

  6. Thats good news to hear, and makes sense for Sony to keep supporting the PS3 and especially the Vita as it has strong potential. They’re much easier to develop for now, and while most of the first party teams are moving on I hope the smaller groups continue to get great results out of the system. I won’t be moving on to the PS4 for a while, as I have loads of games I want to play on the current system (Not a backwards compatability issue, more of a ‘getting the most out of a console’ issue). :)

  7. This ties in nicely with EA’s earlier announcement that they will be fully supporting the PS3 for the next 4 years. Just like the PS2, the PS3 won’t be going anywhere once the PS4 is released.

  8. Judging by public surveys I’ve seen, the PS4 has a clear advantage in customer interest. Out of the 3 next gen consoles, the PS4 was the clear winner.

  9. Good 1 SONY;) I want the PS4 bad :P but i still want games for my PS3 so i will play both i guess (& maybe get a PSVita if all PS4 games can be played via Remote Play to) ;)

  10. I dont see any scenario where abandoning the PS3 is good. The PS3 will live longer than Sony wants it to, meaning that one day they’ll have to shut off the PS3s PSN to stop people from playing it. MS had to do it for the Xbox. And even then I’m willing to bet the hacking community will take over and keep it going somehow once Sony does finally abandon it.

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