{"id":105433,"date":"2020-11-05T11:52:18","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T08:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/with-playstation-5-launch-sony-needs-a-high-score\/"},"modified":"2020-11-05T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T08:52:18","slug":"with-playstation-5-launch-sony-needs-a-high-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/with-playstation-5-launch-sony-needs-a-high-score\/","title":{"rendered":"#With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Sony's
\n Sony’s PlayStation 5 will enter a head-to-head battle with rival Microsoft’s new Xbox
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Sony launches its PlayStation 5 console next week angling for a mega-hit, and with the Japanese firm increasingly dependent on the lucrative gaming sector there is little room for error.<\/p>\n

The PlayStation 5 will enter a head-to-head battle with rival Microsoft’s new Xbox, released two days earlier, with both hoping to capture the market in the run-up to Christmas.<\/p>\n

But the showdown has significantly higher stakes for Sony.<\/p>\n

Since the PS1 launched in 1994, gaming has become the biggest segment of Sony’s business, generating the lion’s share of profit and about a third of sales\u2014more than electronics products or music.<\/p>\n

By comparison, gaming made up less than 10 percent of Microsoft’s sales for the year ending in June 2020.<\/p>\n

Sony sold twice as many PS4s as Microsoft did Xbox Ones, and analysts say it has learned lessons from the disapp<\/a>ointing roll-out of the PS3.<\/p>\n

“We have seen in previous generations that at launch there are two major factors that will impact a generation’s success\u2014the first to launch and the cheapest,” said Morris Garrard, an analyst at Futuresource Consulting.<\/p>\n

He cited the “relative failure” of the PS3, which went on sale a year after the Xbox 360 and at a higher price.<\/p>\n

The PS5 is priced at $500, like the Xbox Series<\/a> X, while a version without a disk reader costs $400.<\/p>\n

That’s more than the $300 price tag for Microsoft’s less powerful Xbox Series S, which also has no disk reader.<\/p>\n

Sony’s margin on the consoles will be slim\u2014possibly even loss-making\u2014analysts say, and the firm is counting on sales of game<\/a>s, services and online subscriptions to turn a profit.<\/p>\n

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\"Since
\n Since the PlayStation launched in 1994, gaming has become the biggest segment of Sony’s business
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Games ‘make or break’ for PS5<\/b><\/p>\n

So far, demand looks strong, and Sony has reportedly boosted production targets.<\/p>\n

But meeting those will depend on suppliers, particularly TSMC, the Taiwanese firm that manufactures the PS5’s processor and graphics-processing unit.<\/p>\n

It is already under pressure as a key producer of chips for 5G-compatible smartphones.<\/p>\n

“Whatever Sony produces, it will sell,” said Yasuo Imanaka, an analyst at Rakuten Securities, who thinks PS5 could exceed the record 157 million PS2 units sold since the 2000 launch.<\/p>\n

But “everything depends on what TSMC can supply”, he told AFP.<\/p>\n

To stand out against the Xbox, Sony will be counting on its games line-up, including exclusive titles that Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan says will “make or break” PS5.
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Among its trump cards is “Spider-Man: Miles Morales”, which will be released with the new console. Its predecessor is among the best selling PS4 titles.<\/p>\n

The game was developed by the American studio Insomniac Games, which Sony bought last year for $229 million.<\/p>\n

The purchase brought the number of studios Sony owns to 14, and represents a popular strategy of bringing increasingly expensive game development in-house.<\/p>\n

Microsoft has made its own forays, buying ZeniMax in September for a record $7.5 billion.<\/p>\n

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\n To stand out against the Xbox, Sony will be counting on its games line-up
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‘Short-term focused’<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite the costs, Amir Anvarzadeh, a strategist at Asymmetric Advisors, said the trend makes sense given the risk of diminishing returns for console manufacturers on games produced by third-party developers.<\/p>\n

Platform manufacturers charge games publishers a cut for each game sold for use on their device\u2014and nearly 70 percent of games sold for the PlayStation come from third-party developers.<\/p>\n

But Sony and others are under pressure from publishers to slash that fee.<\/p>\n

“If the royalty fees go down, they’re in a lot of trouble because then they would have to sell twice as much hardware” to avoid a hit to their bottom line, Anvarzadeh said.<\/p>\n

There are also fewer incentives now for studios to develop exclusive games, especially given the growing popularity of “cross-play”, where gamers play one game together on different devices.<\/p>\n

On top of bringing game development in-house, Microsoft has a subscription service that is broader than Sony’s and gives users access to hundreds of Xbox and PC games.<\/p>\n

Garrard said Sony continues to have several strong cards up its sleeve when it comes to PS5, and its “content portfolio, strength of consumer social<\/a> networks and development of immersive tech… will all aid in encouraging consumer uptake of the hardware”.<\/p>\n

But he warned its focus on consoles risks being too fixated on short-term goals.<\/p>\n

As well as its subscription model, Microsoft is investing heavily in streaming, also known as cloud gaming\u2014a strategy Garrard said “appears to be aimed at long-term dominance”.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X set for November launch, from $499\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2020 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n With PlayStation 5 launch, Sony needs a high score (2020, November 5)
\n retrieved 5 November 2020
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news<\/a>\/2020-11-playstation-sony-high-score.html<\/p>\n

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