[Bloomberg]Sony gives underwhelming outlook. DFC Intelligence's David Cole says "The delay in GTA VI is a real blow to the PS5."

gokurho

gokurho

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Sumary by chatGPT
Sony has issued a lackluster forecast for its fiscal year ending March 2026, projecting flat operating profit of ¥1.28 trillion ($8.7 billion). The company warned that newly announced U.S. tariffs could reduce profit by around ¥100 billion. Net income is expected to decline by 13% to ¥930 billion.

The PlayStation 5 is expected to see reduced sales, with forecasted shipments of 15 million units—down from 18.5 million last year. Sony plans to mitigate tariff impacts by diversifying manufacturing locations and possibly adjusting PS5 prices.

David Cole of DFC Intelligence commented that the delay of Grand Theft Auto VI, a highly anticipated title, is a major setback for the PS5, as the console approaches the later stages of its lifecycle without a significant system-selling game.

While Sony's music and movie divisions remain strong, fears of potential U.S. tariffs on foreign films add further uncertainty. Despite the muted outlook, Sony shares rose 3.7% following the announcement of a ¥250 billion share buyback.
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www.bloomberg.com

Sony’s Outlook Underwhelms With US Tariffs Weighing

Sony Group Corp. offered an underwhelming forecast for the year ahead, with the burden of US tariffs wiping out expectations for an increase in operating profit.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
Sony Group Corp. offered an underwhelming forecast for the year ahead, with the burden of US tariffs wiping out expectations for an increase in operating profit.
The entertainment-focused group said on Wednesday that it sees a ¥100 billion ($700 million) impact from US levies in the year to March and expects an operating profit of ¥1.28 trillion. Even without the tariffs, Sony's projection fell shy of the average analyst estimate of ¥1.5 trillion and is essentially flat compared to the year concluded in March 2025.
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"Our internal outlook — or rather, the image we have in mind — is around 15 million units shipped," Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said in a call after the earnings release. "There are currently many uncertainties, such as tariffs and other external factors. So instead of just chasing numbers, we want to flexibly adjust our shipments while keeping an eye on profitability and the overall market."
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Sony's new Chief Executive Officer Hiroki Totoki's first task is to navigate the entertainment group though this new era of a tariffs-wielding US. North America comprises the bulk of PlayStation 5 sales, which is mostly produced in China. Tao said Sony will diversify the production locations of the PS5 and may consider raising prices as an option to deal with the impact from tariffs. The company raised its flagship console's price in Europe, Australia and New Zealand last month.
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Higher prices would slow momentum of the five-year-old hardware, especially as it vies with rival Nintendo Co.'s Switch 2, which launches in June. The postponement of Rockstar Games Inc.'s much-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI is also weighing on PlayStation sales in the current fiscal year.
"The delay in GTA VI is a real blow to the PS5," said David Cole, chief executive officer of US-based digital entertainment research firm DFC Intelligence. "This was supposed to be the product that got many consumers to get off the PS4 and on to a PS5."
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Sony's other operations are also under siege. The outlook for image sensors, used in smartphones by everyone from Apple Inc. to Xiaomi Corp., is murky, with tariffs hitting handsets in the US. And President Donald Trump has suggested tariffs may also be placed on movies made outside the US, just as Sony is promoting Japanese animated films such as the Demon Slayer series overseas.
Profit at the company's image sensing operations was flat in the March quarter on a less than 3% rise in sales. Totoki said he expects the mobile image sensor business to grow for years.
Sony is considering a spin off of the semiconductor unit in a bid to streamline its structure as it focuses more on its entertainment operations, Bloomberg reported earlier.
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It has nothing to do with GTA6.

The ps5 has been a seller for years now, even through a pandemic that wrecked markets.

This just comes down to world politics affecting the price of everything.
 
Sony has been incredibly mediocre this generation, but you have to be an idiot to say their financial outlook is bleak. They are currently making record revenue and profits, and that is with no AAA first party releases since 2023. Microsoft has all but quit on console hardware and GTA 6 is releasing exclusively next year on consoles. Lastly, the PS5 generation will probably be viable for the next decade. Most gamers won't feel the need to upgrade to their next console or PC that will cost at least 1000 dollars
 
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I really wish people would stop gassing those mediocre damn games from Rockstar. The whole industry comes to a halt to worship a bunch of middling mechanics that haven't evolved from the early-2000s.
 
Would this delay perhaps be influenced by let's say a console manufacturer who is trying to get a console out in fall 2026 and that giving an entire year+ for GTA6 to be on Sonys console alone would be a massive hit to the launch of said system? Maybe the game needs more time, but maybe someone wants to cut the exclusive time to 3-4 months instead?? Money well spent??
 
If true (and this could very well be bullshit, given that it is Mochizuki), isn't it kinda sad that Sony are so reliant on a third-party game to push their own console? Maybe Sony should sell their business to T2.
 
JohnnyFootball said:
That's what happens when you try to force GAAS and put your most talented studios on that instead sticking to their strengths.
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Sony is entering an era where they are the only relevant console. They will benefit greatly from being the only affordable TV box that plays Fortnite, FIFA, CoD, GTA, etc. They barely need a first party anymore. If they never made another Uncharted or Horizon, would it actually hurt them? They could easily become like Valve where they focus on GaaS, and if they flop (artifact, concord)…. Who really cares. You have no competition and collect a 30% royalty on all other games.
 
I don't know what's worse, the article itself or the people ITT seriously commenting about it as if they genuinely believe the idea of this 'underwhelming outlook'. Something about burying your head in the sand?
 
The headline is absolutely true. This rolls out the red carpet for the Switch 2 for the holidays with the Mario Kart World bundle.
 
Sony already fucked up the sequels to some of their most valuable IPs and now their success is tied to Rockstar.

I'm not even talking about the GAAS absolute failure.
 
Just got off the phone with Mr John Sony, founder and CEO of Sony Inc.

He said they just cancelled the PS5. No refunds he said.

RIP

PS5 2020-2025. 💀
 
coachmcguirk91 said:
Sony has been incredibly mediocre this generation, but you have to be an idiot to say their financial outlook is bleak. They are currently making record revenue and profits, and that is with no AAA first party releases since 2023. Microsoft has all but quit on console hardware and GTA 6 is releasing exclusively next year on consoles. Lastly, the PS5 generation will probably be viable for the next decade. Most gamers won't feel the need to upgrade to their next console or PC that will cost at least 1000 dollars
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Yeah the amount of people still on PS4. Ps5 will be super relevant during ps6 Gen and all these articles will be dooming the PS6 instead.
 
Not having a tent pole game for 2025 is definitely a problem for holiday sales when it will be Switch 2s first holiday on the market. These companies care about hype and sales and with GTA6 slipping to next spring, all the hype is in Nintendo's ring, which gives them momentum that Sony definitely didn't want to give up.

People like to pretend Sony only competes against Xbox / PC but they still do very much compete against Nintendo.
 
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TheMule1983 said:
PlayStation 5 has been the worst PlayStation generation by far. Not even close.
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DualSense is the biggest leap in game controllers since the original DualShock.
PlayStation should have bundled a less expensive wired DualSense with an updated PS2 (fat for US, slim for JP/EU) and flooded the market.
A PS2 with HDMI and multi-out that plays PSN games via SSD would sell faster than the OG PS2 and add to the OG PS2's sales numbers.
PS2 with DualSense > Switch.
 
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BennyBlanco said:
Sony is entering an era where they are the only relevant console. They will benefit greatly from being the only affordable TV box that plays Fortnite, FIFA, CoD, GTA, etc. They barely need a first party anymore. If they never made another Uncharted or Horizon, would it actually hurt them? They could easily become like Valve where they focus on GaaS, and if they flop (artifact, concord)…. Who really cares. You have no competition and collect a 30% royalty on all other games.
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That might be good for Sony and a modern audience, but to me, a long time PS user, it feels like betrayal and time to jump ship if they give up on, or half-ass first party games.
 
Who would have thought coasting all of these years without big ass exclusives and then focusing on GAAS trash was going to backfire so fucking bad? 🤣
 
The assessment is right, IMO. But this is a clear case of HODL if there ever was one (and I'll be eyeing the dip, personally).

A 10-15% drop in net income given all the mistakes Playstation has made is, in my mind, a well above average outcome given the volatility introduced by the tariff-obsessed U.S. administration. And even should Trump go through with his threats to capsize American economic dominance, Sony will be buoyed by the largest game release ever.
 
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I do think Sony needs to start taking Valve seriously as a competitor. PC is not at console levels of ease of use, but it can get closer with time. And the Steam Deck's price isn't outrageous compared to the Switch 2, especially the 419€ version (just a shame the screen isn't better). No reason Valve couldn't do that with a stationary box too.
 
Gaiff said:
I really wish people would stop gassing those mediocre damn games from Rockstar. The whole industry comes to a halt to worship a bunch of middling mechanics that haven't evolved from the early-2000s.
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No, I keep gassing rockstar as long as they make huge open world games like rdr2 and gta 6.
 
Sony get all their big first party studios to make shitty service games then cry they won't sell any PS5s this year as a big story driven single-player game was delayed.

It's literally that meme of the guy poking the stick into his own bike spokes.
 
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Scrawnton said:
Not having a tent pole game for 2025 is definitely a problem for holiday sales when it will be Switch 2s first holiday on the market. These companies care about hype and sales and with GTA6 slipping to next spring, all the hype is in Nintendo's ring, which gives them momentum that Sony definitely didn't want to give up.

People like to pretend Sony only competes against Xbox / PC but they still do very much compete against Nintendo.
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Ghost of Yotei, the sequel to a game that sold 13M units, is releasing in October 2nd, FYI.
 
It's like they didn't just release the 2024 game of the year Astro Bot. And they didn't drop god of war ragnorock, GT7, Returnal, Horizon 2, ratchet and clank, and spider man 2 this gen. Y'all are super spoiled saying they haven't released system sellers. Crazyness.
 
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That's really kinda sad that the industry is (seemingly) banking on one single game to prop up their machines...yes, it's GTA, but damn you'd think these companies would have OTHER compelling software to say, "Hey this game is awesome! Buy our machine to play it!"
Kinda like what Nintendo does.
 
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