CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hideaki Nishino, to hold a keynote speech on the first day of TGS over the industry impact of PlayStation Store

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The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) today (August 1, 2025) opened paid pre-registration for admission to Tokyo Game Show 2025's business days, September 25th and 26th. Registration requires applicants to be involved in the games business, and a pre-registration screening process is required.
Tickets are valid for two days and cost 11,000 yen (tax included). Gold Pass tickets, which allow access to the business lounge and business matching system, are priced at 27,500 yen (tax included). Information about the keynote speech to be held on the first day of the business day was also announced. Hideaki Nishino, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), will take the stage to discuss how the PlayStation Store has contributed to the gaming industry in a world where downloading games and add-on content has become the norm. He will also look back on the PS Store's approximately 20-year history and explore its significance and role.

Pre-registration for the keynote speech will begin on Friday, August 1st.
Title: "Game Market Revolutionary: What the PlayStation Store Brought to You"
Date and Time: Thursday, September 25, 2025, 11:00-12:00
Speaker: Hideaki Nishino, President and CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment

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Lecture summary: PlayStation has created an era in which
people all over the world can experience the fun of games and connect freely with anyone. Nearly 20 years have passed since the experience of downloading games and add-on content began in addition to the supply of games via disc media. By utilizing the content distribution method of a network rather than physical media, the PlayStation Store will look back over its 20-year history and examine its role and significance as a business, and how it has contributed to the games industry.:

 
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They will announce a 2 hour window for refunds and a comprehensive rating system with reviews, you will only be able to leave a review through varified purchase of the game and 5 hours of gametime minimum.

Funny GIF
 
Sony bringing games to other consoles + fluff like this = Sony's walled garden is about to come under attack. They saw what happened with Apple and Phil has made it clear that he no longer wants walled gardens on consoles. I expect once Microsoft has the Xbox platform opened up, they are going to put pressure on regulators to look into Sony and possibly Nintendo practices.
 
Why Is it odd?
In the sense of talking about your own storefront to others when it reserved to your own ecosystem seems odd. Not bad, but self-serving.

Not debating the merit of PS Store here as Playstation is a juggernaut of gaming, but it's not like their store offers anything out of the ordinary to its competitors. Only thing I can say PS Store does a lot more than Xbox or Nintendo E-shop are sales. There is always a sales of some sort there, but then again on PC Steam does that and more.
 
Pre-registration for the keynote speech will begin on Friday, August 1st.



suck my dick middle finger GIF
 
Nearly 20 years have passed since the experience of downloading games and add-on content began in addition to the supply of games via disc media

Awkward Rap Game GIF by BBC Three


Pretty sure I downloaded DLC for mechassault in 2002 and then later for ninja gaiden in 2004; end of that year I also downloaded a bunch of trials for games on XBLA.
PSN sucked ass for pretty much the entire PS3 lifespan.
 
They will announce a 2 hour window for refunds and a comprehensive rating system with reviews, you will only be able to leave a review through varified purchase of the game and 5 hours of gametime minimum
When PSN adopts the 2hr return window it will be the end of video game reviews.
Game reviews are only necessary in a world where buying new games entails risk.
Buying and trying games based on box art alone will be faster than going to IGN or YouTube and watching a review.
This ties the PlayStation brand to the excitement of discovering new games via blind buying and trying games without risk.
Removing the risk from buying games will allow studios to take more risks when creating games.
Every game kept beyond the 2hr mark is a positive review and PSN can abandon the existing subjective rating system and simply post objective game sales numbers rounded to nice milestones.
 
Sony bringing games to other consoles + fluff like this = Sony's walled garden is about to come under attack. They saw what happened with Apple and Phil has made it clear that he no longer wants walled gardens on consoles. I expect once Microsoft has the Xbox platform opened up, they are going to put pressure on regulators to look into Sony and possibly Nintendo practices.
Sony and Nintendo should just sell only physical games.
 
With Day One launches on their PC store with Cross Buy, Cross Saves, Cross Play, and Trophies support.

And new support for PS5 streaming via PS+ Premium built into the app. Ditch the old PSNow app.
So you believe they will give equal priority to PC gamers going forward when their main platform, and therefore the largest chunk of their revenue streams, are from selling 3rd party software on consoles? It would be one of the most idiotic decisions they could make.
 
When PSN adopts the 2hr return window it will be the end of video game reviews.
Game reviews are only necessary in a world where buying new games entails risk.
Buying and trying games based on box art alone will be faster than going to IGN or YouTube and watching a review.
This ties the PlayStation brand to the excitement of discovering new games via blind buying and trying games without risk.
Removing the risk from buying games will allow studios to take more risks when creating games.
Every game kept beyond the 2hr mark is a positive review and PSN can abandon the existing subjective rating system and simply post objective game sales numbers rounded to nice milestones.
Idk man my 2 hours on this earth is definitely worth spending 10 minutes browsing metacritic or reading a review.
 
Hopefully they also present plans to unfuck their digital ecosystem. It's really cumbersome and annoying to use. But to be fair, so are Microsoft's and Nintendo's. Even Steam has some annoying parts. I can't really think of an online ecosystem that does everything right and is almost "invisible" (i.e. stays out of my fucking way the best it can).
 
So you believe they will give equal priority to PC gamers going forward when their main platform, and therefore the largest chunk of their revenue streams, are from selling 3rd party software on consoles? It would be one of the most idiotic decisions they could make.
See, that's the thing, largest chunk of revenues is NOT from selling 3rd party software. That's one of the reasons Sony's profit margins on that revenue are not high. Most of the revenues is from hardware sales that break even.

Idk what Sony's numbers breakdown, but for Xbox it was like 25% Hardware, 28% third party store cut, 22% services and first party content (Gamepass being 15% at the time, likely grown to 20%) and 25% Accessories/peripherals.

Services and accessories revenues are the most profitable. Hardware is either break even or subsidized at a loss. Third party store cut revenues is usually a quarter of the overall revenues.

Doing day one on PSN PC store only would be still keeping those users within the PlayStation ecosystem. They could then do Steam/Epic releases 6 months later.

Sony needs to expand PC, mobile with their own stores, and expand Cloud. Create a full ecosystem. Xbox is going to launch their mobile store soon, Google lost its antitrust appeal. Xbox already expanded their ecosystem to the biggest Cloud services. Console hardware is simply the foundation of a platform that spans various form factors. It should not be the only focus or Sony will get left behind in other areas.
 
Idk man my 2 hours on this earth is definitely worth spending 10 minutes browsing metacritic or reading a review.
Its not about final decision buy or not buy, its about that initial curiosity/hype factor.
Say u got 2 gameboxes/games on a digital playstation store, one looks like this:
images

Or this badboy instead(i sincery admit im definitely biased, i still have that physical copy and will likely never sell it):
images
 
See, that's the thing, largest chunk of revenues is NOT from selling 3rd party software. That's one of the reasons Sony's profit margins on that revenue are not high. Most of the revenues is from hardware sales that break even.
Their margin now is ~15% in GnS

Idk what Sony's numbers breakdown, but for Xbox it was like 25% Hardware, 28% third party store cut, 22% services and first party content (Gamepass being 15% at the time, likely grown to 20%) and 25% Accessories/peripherals.
You should check, they are public, you know.
All hardware 16%, games 58% (3rd party ~90% of those), PSN 18%, other platforms sales 7%
3rd party games and subscriptions are the biggest earners for PS and they suffer the most if Sony abandon walled garden

Services and accessories revenues are the most profitable. Hardware is either break even or subsidized at a loss. Third party store cut revenues is usually a quarter of the overall revenues.
Not even close

Doing day one on PSN PC store only would be still keeping those users within the PlayStation ecosystem. They could then do Steam/Epic releases 6 months later.
See split above - it'll be a huge loss for them.
PC market aight that high, SP focused market are like 1/4 of what playstation has. And mobile highly dominated by f2p gaas (good luck with selling premium games there) where Sony is not really a player at all.

Sony needs to expand PC, mobile with their own stores, and expand Cloud. Create a full ecosystem.
What for when they can just sell content for highest bidder?
Sony even not entered video streaming service competition, why would it go for PC store competition that have even less sense.
 
Its not about final decision buy or not buy, its about that initial curiosity/hype factor.
Say u got 2 gameboxes/games on a digital playstation store, one looks like this:
images

Or this badboy instead(i sincery admit im definitely biased, i still have that physical copy and will likely never sell it):
images
Another reason why reviews are valuable and should never be discarded.

Also if you got that Concord disc, odds are you will sell it for a good amount of money and will be able to buy like 5x Bloodborne discs lol.
 
See, that's the thing, largest chunk of revenues is NOT from selling 3rd party software. That's one of the reasons Sony's profit margins on that revenue are not high. Most of the revenues is from hardware sales that break even.

Idk what Sony's numbers breakdown, but for Xbox it was like 25% Hardware, 28% third party store cut, 22% services and first party content (Gamepass being 15% at the time, likely grown to 20%) and 25% Accessories/peripherals.

Services and accessories revenues are the most profitable. Hardware is either break even or subsidized at a loss. Third party store cut revenues is usually a quarter of the overall revenues.

Doing day one on PSN PC store only would be still keeping those users within the PlayStation ecosystem. They could then do Steam/Epic releases 6 months later.

Sony needs to expand PC, mobile with their own stores, and expand Cloud. Create a full ecosystem. Xbox is going to launch their mobile store soon, Google lost its antitrust appeal. Xbox already expanded their ecosystem to the biggest Cloud services. Console hardware is simply the foundation of a platform that spans various form factors. It should not be the only focus or Sony will get left behind in other areas.
I had a quick look to find the revenue breakdown for the last fiscal year and it appears to be 32% for all hardware and accessories. If the remainder is software and services that would still be a decent chunk of revenue from 3rd party sales if you ignore subscriptions and first party. There's also a good chunk of revenue with micro transactions for the myriad of ftp games. If they kill their own hardware by putting games day one on pc then that's your 3rd party sales and micro transactions gone as well as subscription revenue. Let's also not forget that the profit margins will be higher for 3rd party software than it is for hardware. They make a lot of money by being a marketplace for 3rd parties and even if it was only 25% of total revenue, no company is willing to throw that away. It would be suicidal for Sony to go down the same path that Microsoft have done and I don't believe that those in charge are that ignorant to the potential repercussions of doing so. If we know them they surely do.
 
PS Store PC announcement hype!
Ok, unless they have some announcement to make this is kind of odd.
Since the PS3 generation the console game revenue heavily shifted from physical to digital, as previously did in PC (mobile already was digital only since day one).

During that same period the source of game revenue has been moving from game sales to game subs and specially game digital addons. And partly due to these transitions, which also allowed related things like heavier discounts and the introduction of lower budget games (attracting more players and a higher ARPU), the total console game revenue highly increased.

Due to being the console worldwide market leader, PS Store had a key role on it, and Nishino has been in charge of it since a ton of years ago, so maybe it's one of the reasons of why he got promoted to SIE CEO.

I think a talk about all this showing the evolution sharing numbers will be interesting for the CEOs of the game companies and institutions attenging TGS, even if many of them may already know many of the numbers or at least pretty close estimations.

I think he won't make any PS Store related announcement there, even if he may mention something they already mentioned multiple times: that they are working to expand PSN to PC and mobile because the growth of the console market is pretty limited and AAAs need a bigger audience specially looking at the future, because every generation they get more expensive.
 
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Isn't a keynote speech just like a presentation almost? I don't really think it's the place where you announce new things but I could be wrong.
Yes, it's just a keynote speech about the history of the PS Store and how it impacted the gaming industry.

Pretty likely there won't be any annoucement here, other than maybe to hint again their future expansion via PC, mobile and cloud.

See, that's the thing, largest chunk of revenues is NOT from selling 3rd party software. That's one of the reasons Sony's profit margins on that revenue are not high. Most of the revenues is from hardware sales that break even.

Idk what Sony's numbers breakdown, but for Xbox it was like 25% Hardware, 28% third party store cut, 22% services and first party content (Gamepass being 15% at the time, likely grown to 20%) and 25% Accessories/peripherals.

Services and accessories revenues are the most profitable. Hardware is either break even or subsidized at a loss. Third party store cut revenues is usually a quarter of the overall revenues.

Doing day one on PSN PC store only would be still keeping those users within the PlayStation ecosystem. They could then do Steam/Epic releases 6 months later.

Sony needs to expand PC, mobile with their own stores, and expand Cloud. Create a full ecosystem. Xbox is going to launch their mobile store soon, Google lost its antitrust appeal. Xbox already expanded their ecosystem to the biggest Cloud services. Console hardware is simply the foundation of a platform that spans various form factors. It should not be the only focus or Sony will get left behind in other areas.
I had a quick look to find the revenue breakdown for the last fiscal year and it appears to be 32% for all hardware and accessories. If the remainder is software and services that would still be a decent chunk of revenue from 3rd party sales if you ignore subscriptions and first party. There's also a good chunk of revenue with micro transactions for the myriad of ftp games. If they kill their own hardware by putting games day one on pc then that's your 3rd party sales and micro transactions gone as well as subscription revenue. Let's also not forget that the profit margins will be higher for 3rd party software than it is for hardware. They make a lot of money by being a marketplace for 3rd parties and even if it was only 25% of total revenue, no company is willing to throw that away. It would be suicidal for Sony to go down the same path that Microsoft have done and I don't believe that those in charge are that ignorant to the potential repercussions of doing so. If we know them they surely do.
FY24 (previous entire fiscal year) -> Q1FY25 (most recent quarter reported) :
  • Hardware 24.25% -> 16.37%
  • Software 53.71% -> 57.68%
    • Physical game sales 2.59% -> 2.43%
    • Digital game sales 20.34% -> 21.31%
    • Digital add-ons 28.71% -> 31.24%
    • First party revenue off-PS 2.06% -> 2.7%
  • Game subs 14.34% ->18.43%
  • Accesories 7.7% -> 7.52%
And:
  • Content & Services (game software + network services) 68.05% -> 65.2%
    • 3rd party portion of the full game sales in units 90.47% -> 89.53%
  • Hardware & accesories 31.95% -> 34.8%
Please notice hardware sales (plus related game subs) are more focused in Q3 than the software, so this is why there's such difference between full year (or Q3) and non-Q3 quarters only like the recent Q1.


image.png


So TLDR:
  • Two thirds of SIE revenue comes from contents & services
  • One third of SIE revenue comes from hardware & accesories
  • Over half of SIE revenue comes from digital game and addons sales.
  • Around 90% of their full game sales (so not counting addons -must be higher for 3rd party- or subs, and in units and not revenue) are from 3rd party sales.
 
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Yes, it's just a keynote speech about the history of the PS Store and how it impacted the gaming industry.

Pretty likely there won't be any annoucement here, other than maybe to hint again their future expansion via PC, mobile and cloud.
What do you foresee regarding PC and Mobile storefronts? What timeline and will Sony keep its promise regarding first party games on the PS+ Premium service?

Xbox Mobile store is ready to go, was ready back in November. Now that Google lost their antitrust appeal, others can all bring their stores to playstore.
 
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Yes, it's just a keynote speech about the history of the PS Store and how it impacted the gaming industry.

Pretty likely there won't be any annoucement here, other than maybe to hint again their future expansion via PC, mobile and cloud.



FY24 (previous entire fiscal year) -> Q1FY25 (most recent quarter reported) :
  • Hardware 24.25% -> 16.37%
  • Software 53.71% -> 57.68%
    • Physical game sales 2.59% -> 2.43%
    • Digital game sales 20.34% -> 21.31%
    • Digital add-ons 28.71% -> 31.24%
    • First party revenue off-PS 2.06% -> 2.7%
  • Game subs 14.34% ->7.52%
  • Content & Services (game software + network services) 68.05% -> 65.2%
  • Accesories 7.7% -> 7.52%
  • 3rd party portion of the full game sales in units 90.47% -> 89.53%
Two thirds of SIE revenue comes from contents & services. Over half of it from digital game and addons sales. Around 90% of their full game sales (so not counting addons or subs, and in units and not revenue) are from 3rd party sales.

Please notice hardware sales (plus related game subs) are more focused in Q3 than the software, so this is why there's such difference between full year (or Q3) and non-Q3 quarters only like the recent Q1.


image.png
So basically third party store cut from full game sales is about 90% of 21.31%? Digital add-ons being MTX from F2P and DLC?
 
Their margin now is ~15% in GnS


You should check, they are public, you know.
All hardware 16%, games 58% (3rd party ~90% of those), PSN 18%, other platforms sales 7%
3rd party games and subscriptions are the biggest earners for PS and they suffer the most if Sony abandon walled garden


Not even close


See split above - it'll be a huge loss for them.
PC market aight that high, SP focused market are like 1/4 of what playstation has. And mobile highly dominated by f2p gaas (good luck with selling premium games there) where Sony is not really a player at all.


What for when they can just sell content for highest bidder?
Sony even not entered video streaming service competition, why would it go for PC store competition that have even less sense.


The software sales in other platforms, under the Other Software epigraph, can't be a 7%, they have done 175m on 6.6 billion revenue. That's more like 2.5%.
 
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