When it comes to game consoles, it’s well known that they are loss-leading machines. With Sony’s PS5 however, things are turning out to be different. The PlayStation 5 has been on top of console sales charts ever since its release in November (February for India), and Sony is already expecting the console to become profitable from June – 6 months away from launch.
Going by the same investors’ document that revealed Uncharted 4 coming to PC, Sony’s projections for the PS5 are sky-high. This is mainly due to the PS5 carrying over the loyal player base from PS4, with legacy support (PS4 game compatibility) and proposed expansion into regions outside of US and Japan.
The reason why Sony is expecting the PS5 to become profitable from next month is due to the declining cost of manufacturing the console. This is in spite of the global semi-conductor shortage, which one would assume has only made manufacturing PS5s more expensive. However, with a rumoured PS5 redesign in the works, and no to mention the falling cost of parts and unprecedented demand, it’s not too surprising to thinks of the console turning in more money than is being spent on it.
Sony has been banking hard on its internal development teams (PlayStation Studios), increasing its investments into first-party exclusives for the PS5 generation. With the 100+ PS4 consoles out there, Sony has made it clear that their priority right now is to smoothly shift that player base to the PS5, with cross-gen games and investments into exclusive IPs being a key strategy.
The PlayStation 5 is out now in India and worldwide, and while Sony has reported record-breaking sales figures, supply is still restricted thanks to a global chip shortage.