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[Donald mac Ronald]

Any particular reason why? PS1 and PS2 and zero competition. I know 3rd party big gaas games print money etc. but PS4 has those too.

 

[SILKYSMOOTH30FPS]

The ROI has gotten exponentially worse with each new console (E.g., PS2, 3, ...) since the first PlayStation.
With the PS3 ' era' things reached a tipping point where an estimated 80% of AAA studios disappeared.
On top of that, users don't like PS3 games more than PS2 games or even PS1 games.

The gaming community is much bigger than what it once was, and now that there's zero competition with MS, Sony has everyone to themselves. Release a good game, no matter how expensive it was to produce, and it'll sell, and move systems. Release Concord or another POS that feels like whoever came up with the idea isn't capable of reading the room, well, you lose 100M+, and it's nobody elses fault than yours.

 

[EN250]

Easy for them when they keep rising prices of HW, SW and subs

They have to pray hard for the paypigs to keep spending money on meaningless skins and other worthless trash in Fortnite, GTAO, COD and other stuff

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

BUT HERMEN BAD MARATHON DOOMED etc.

They are also finally making the gaming business' profit margins more and more healthy, this will help Sony tremendously with PS6 and internal studio investments.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Any particular reason why? PS1 and PS2 and zero competition. I know 3rd party big gaas games print money etc. but PS4 has those too.

Gaming has grown since then.

 

[onQ123]

Any particular reason why? PS1 and PS2 and zero competition. I know 3rd party big gaas games print money etc. but PS4 has those too.

DualSense, Edge , Portal , Disc Drive , 30% off of software sales when every game sales more on PlayStation. Also PS4 is still bringing in money

 

[simpatico]

Yet no one gets mad when they raise prices on everything? If profits are that high... How many times has the monthly sub bumped?

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Yet no one gets made when they raise prices on everything? If profits are that high... How many times has the monthly sub bumped?

Inflation easily eats away price hikes though. They are just in a way better place as a platform and they've found new revenue streams. Boring, traditional and rational business.

 

[ZehDon]

Record high profits.
Literally more money than they've ever made from videos games for all past years, all past consoles, put together.
Must be time to raise those prices again.
And then layoff a bunch of people.

 

[Wolzard]

Blue Critter signing in b1ch.

Let's bring some reality to this early. Critical thinking questions, everyone:

1. Does this account for inflation?
2. What are their profit margins looking like before or after inflation?

Taking inflation into account:

PS1: $5.8 billion.
PS2: $3.3 billion.
PS3: -5.6 billion.
PS4: $11.3 billion.
PS5: $10.2 billion.

 

[The_Mike]

All that money but only 2 good games.

Really just shows that exclusives doesn't sell systems alone.

 

[RoboCain]

I hope they at least send some keychains for the iron dome they have over here.

 

[ProtoByte]

All of this info is available in the first post. PS4 gen had $9b operating profit on $107b sales = 8.41% margin. PS5 gen has $13b profit on $136b sales = 9.55% margin. Bringing up the potential impact of inflation undercutting Sony's financial results would be silly in this case because revenue and costs are presented together and would both be impacted (i.e. we have full context). From a nominal an operational efficiency standpoint, PlayStation 5 has categorically done better than PS2-PS4 generations. Only PS1 has better profit performance but some inefficiency is expected as you grow larger and gain market share; I (and investors, and most everyone else) would rather have 13b profits and 9.5% margin vs 3b profits with 12.5% margin.

PS4 gen didn't top out at 9 billion because the PS4 gen didn't stop in FY19. It's barely ended now.

Frankly, their own previous data contradicts this narrative on thorough reading.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

In hindsight, the Playstation Portal was priced to cheaply for the value it brings to the Playstation ecosystem. They should release an OLED model for $299 next holiday and phase out the original.

 

[Fabieter]

Any particular reason why? PS1 and PS2 and zero competition. I know 3rd party big gaas games print money etc. but PS4 has those too.

Higher priced subs, more expensive games, higher priced consoles. Consoles used to get cheaper.

 

[nial]

In hindsight, the Playstation Portal was priced to cheaply for the value it brings to the Playstation ecosystem. They should release an OLED model for $299 next holiday and phase out the original.

I want more colors.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I want more colors.

And special editions as well! Can you imagine the sales of an Astrobot Portal?

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Higher priced subs, more expensive games, higher priced consoles. Consoles used to get cheaper.

1. Sub hikes and raised game prices are eaten away by inflation worldwide, some PSN currencies like Turkish Lira are dropping faster than Concord online numbers.
2. Console margins are not that great either since we're way past cheapening dies with all the supply issues, TSMC node queues and tariff problems. Sony is trying to offset this by being way more agressive with accessories this gen, recent Fight Stick announcement is mostly about said added value.

The main profit (not revenue) drivers are mtx, higher business cost efficency, better platform market positioning (thanks for your death, Xbox!) and way-way more games with 30% cut like gachas and other live-service titles. Sony itsefl basically adopted Apple's strategy of providing the market-leader premium HW/SW platform for the industry and just taking a cut for it.

 

[tkscz]

more than the profits from PS1-PS2-PS3-PS4 put together

Only because the PS3 lost $4 billion. Holy shit that generation hit Sony hard. Without it they'd have made $1 billion more. I had no idea the PS3 lost them that much. No wonder they tried to charge $600 for it.

 

[Shubh_C63]

The Last of us Remasters really worked overtime.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

GAF: "Herman has to go"

Reality: "PS5 era profits exceed $13 billion, more than the profits from PS1-PS2-PS3-PS4 put together"

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I hear if we get them past 20 billion in profit we can have a 60fps patch for Bloodborne.

 

[Zathalus]

Profit is much smaller than I'd thought it would be. But all those developers, infrastructure, research, and marketing is expensive I suppose.

What is rather depressing is that Nvidia made more profit in 2024 alone than PlayStation has in 30 years, thanks to the current AI demand.

 

[L*][*N*K]

is this coming from PS5 alone or PS5 and PS4 from 2020?

 

[RyanEvans21]

GAF: "Herman has to go"

Reality: "PS5 era profits exceed $13 billion, more than the profits from PS1-PS2-PS3-PS4 put together"

Because they raising prices? So more profits for them.

PS+ $60 to $80
Dualsense $70 to $75

 

[Scrawnton]

Out of curiosity. Do we have hard data on how much money Sony makes off of Fortnite?

 

[MicTyson]

There's a ton of good games on PS. This might shock you but people don't buy PS just to play PS first party games. They buy it to play all the games that come to the system 3rd party, first party etc. In fact here's the real shocker most of that money they are making is from people buying 3rd party games/microtransactions.

Ya, Now the ponies say "Who cares about 1st party" when that's ALL they could go on about for the last couple decades over the Xbox. Sony Fanboys will gooble anything up like good boys.

 

[Zathalus]

Out of curiosity. Do we have hard data on how much money Sony makes off of Fortnite?

We can guess. Documents from Epic shows PlayStation was 47% of total revenue. On average Fortnite makes 4-5 billion per year. So using the 30% cut Sony takes means around 560-700 million per year for Sony.

 

[Arsic]

And special editions as well! Can you imagine the sales of an Astrobot Portal?

Like, 400?

No one bought this turd platformer.

 

[Scrawnton]

We can guess. Documents from Epic shows PlayStation was 47% of total revenue. On average Fortnite makes 4-5 billion per year. So using the 30% cut Sony takes means around 560-700 million per year for Sony.

Based on that napkin math, Fortnite accounts for nearly 20% of PlayStations revenue. Pair that with CoD it seems like roughly 35% of PlayStation profits are built around those two franchises. That's insane.

No wonder Sony threw so much behind their own GAAS games. Between Fortnite, CoD, the Genshin games, etc it seems a majority of Sony's profits come from microtransactions from third party service games.

 

[bender]

Only because the PS3 lost $4 billion. Holy shit that generation hit Sony hard. Without it they'd have made $1 billion more. I had no idea the PS3 lost them that much. No wonder they tried to charge $600 for it.

 

[Ozzie666]

It seems so undeserved and it feels so wrong. Shit first party production, more exepensive hardware, increase in subscriptions for less offerings, no hardware discounts, PSVR failure. Gaming is truly fucked right now. Sony doesn't have to try. I much prefer the Sony of the back half of the PS3, desperate and taking big swings.

All 3 companies have their issues right now. Pick your poison.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Record high profits.
Literally more money than they've ever made from videos games for all past years, all past consoles, put together.
Must be time to raise those prices again.
And then layoff a bunch of people.

i think the actual profits are around 3Bilion

 

[Zathalus]

Based on that napkin math, Fortnite accounts for nearly 20% of PlayStations revenue. Pair that with CoD it seems like roughly 35% of PlayStation profits are built around those two franchises. That's insane.

No wonder Sony threw so much behind their own GAAS games. Between Fortnite, CoD, the Genshin games, etc it seems a majority of Sony's profits come from microtransactions from third party service games.

I think you are mixing up profits and revenue? PlayStation revenue was 31.5 billion dollars in 2024. Fortnite would have been about ~2% of that. Even if you only look at software revenue of 17 billion, that only means 3.5%.

 

[ProtoByte]

i think the actual profits are around 3Bilion

What do you mean by this?

 

[onQ123]

is this coming from PS5 alone or PS5 and PS4 from 2020?

Both

 

[simpatico]

Inflation easily eats away price hikes though. They are just in a way better place as a platform and they've found new revenue streams. Boring, traditional and rational business.

Wish the people who bought weed in college felt like this about price hikes. That's actually really chill of you for being understanding about it. Especially while they release reports about how they're rolling in more dough than ever. If I popped up at the frisbee golf course in an Aventador SVJ a few days after the price hikes, it wouldn't have gone over well.

 

[Sooner]

And you're a repressed Xbox shill - I always knew you were CatLady's pussy

His butt?

 

[EverydayBeast]

PS5 is doing its thing, has AAA involved and set the tone for generations to come, it starts with a good open world game, doing it with a racer, and SONY took the lead during the PS3 era which was at a slug fest with Xbox 360, look at what happened with the PS4, looking ahead PS6 will start attacking Nintendo, SONY vs Nintendo has never happened, PS6 is going to do everything PS5 does but better especially with graphics, SONY is in attack mode right now and they're supposed to be, right now PS5 is console people want, I don't care about that Xbox combines for a large amount of sales as well, Microsoft showed us what they can do, Microsoft against SONY is a tall task.

 

[L*][*N*K]

Both

Roblox and Fortnite on PS4 are genuinely massive cash cows.

 

[Kilau]

Ya, Now the ponies say "Who cares about 1st party" when that's ALL they could go on about for the last couple decades over the Xbox. Sony Fanboys will gooble anything up like good boys.

They can gobble up Xbox 1st party games too now, guess it worked.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

What do you mean by this?

yeah, im trying to undertand. There are two numbers:

Operating Income/profit and Net Income.

Sony's 2024 fiscal year operating profit is $2.8 billion. The net income (actual profit) should be slightly lower.

And I was thinking this:

if PlayStation has half the workforce of Xbox, generates double the revenue, and their profit margin is around 9%.....To me is pretty clear Xbox is operating in the red.

 

[ZehDon]

i think the actual profits are around 3Bilion

Should probably tell Sony, then - misreporting profitability to your investors is a crime in the United States.

 

[ProtoByte]

yeah, im trying to undertand. There are two numbers:

Operating Income/profit and Net Income.

Sony's 2024 fiscal year operating profit is $2.8 billion. The net income (actual profit) should be slightly lower.

And I was thinking this:

if PlayStation has half the workforce of Xbox, generates double the revenue, and their profit margin is around 9%.....To me is pretty clear Xbox is operating in the red.

Ah. I often forget about that distinction. Now that you mention it, yeah, their net income is going to be noticeably lower. All those acquisitions and dumbass decisions pile up.

As for Xbox, I can't speculate on hard numbers because they obfuscate and hide as much as possible. Even their income calculations and definitions are sketchy. That said, it has always made transitive sense that Xbox is actual losing money in the absolute sense, but either way, they're clearly not making enough to keep them invested long term if things don't drastically improve.

Should probably tell Sony, then - misreporting profitability to your investors is a crime in the United States.

Financial jargon. Operating income is the profit after deducting day-day operation costs. Net income is profit after deducting all other costs outside of that. And then there's stuff that you can't possibly numerate like opportunity cost. They've covered themselves, just putting up the nicer (and still real) number in flashing lights to placate and attract investment.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Financial jargon. Operating income is the profit after deducting day-day operation costs. Net income is profit after deducting all other costs outside of that. And then there's stuff that you can't possibly numerate like opportunity cost. They've covered themselves, just putting up the nicer (and still real) number in flashing lights to placate and attract investment.

As long as they measure the number the same way every year, every quarter, then the numbers are valid. You compare the numbers last year to this year. As long as the method is identical then the ratios are right. This is why inflating the books is discouraged, because it makes it harder for the numbers to go up next year. Basically what you are saying makes no business sense.

It seems so undeserved and it feels so wrong. ... more exepensive hardware, increase in subscriptions for less offerings, no hardware discounts,

In case you don't realize, three of the things you listed are exactly why they made money. Unless you think Sony magically get paid when you are happy?
In what way was hardware discounts suppose to increase profits? Are you living in upside down world where the less you charge the more you get paid?
That kind of thinking is why Xbox couldn't make money.

Do these things make you less happy? Sure. But your happiness is not linked to company profitability, or Xbox would be making billions off their worshipers by their faith alone. This is not a game of Civlization 6 where Faith is a currency.

 

[Days like these...]

God damn you PS3, imagine if you weren't a fuck up

I wish I could play profits

 

[roosnam1980]

the real reason why ps5 is so successfull.............................

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I wish I could play profits

Xbox customers wish that they could play financial losses. They are going to lose their non-play anywhere libraries soon and that is what happens when profitability doesn't exist.

 

[Exede]

So basicly they just increased the PS5 price of pure greed and not couse of increased production cost and inflation.

How to shoot yourself in the leg (Produced by Sony)

 

[FingerBang]

Imagine making $13 billion in profit off of the hard work of their employees who they continue to lay off, and consumers who they continue to exploit by increasing subscription prices and console prices.

Greed knows no bounds.

Well, sounds like those hard working employees who do all the work should start their own company where they can not be greedy and not be exploited and make the same amount of money!