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

PS5 era profits exceed $13 billion, more than the profits from PS1-PS2-PS3-PS4 put together
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Anthony Anderson Abc GIF by HULU

That's outstanding.
 
DeltaPolarBear said:
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.


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.
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Greed, just pure greed. How much profit does a company need at the expense of it's customers whilst still laying off employees. Defend them if you want, the big corporation needs your support.
 
simpatico said:
Yet no one gets made when they raise prices on everything? If profits are that high... How many times has the monthly sub bumped?
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Capitalism. You have to make 2 billion and 1 dollar more next year and every year forever. Otherwise you fail, even if you generate a massive profit. It has to be more and more and more until the sun dies
 
Ozzie666 said:
Greed, just pure greed. How much profit does a company need at the expense of it's customers whilst still laying off employees. Defend them if you want, the big corporation needs your support.
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Totally organic… almost 100% word by word same post by multiple users. I love having people jumping in threads like this (threads that are not shitting on anyone else) like moths to the flame astroturfers and console warriors reveal themselves ;). Several angry warriors acting out, throwing tantrums, and coming in to stir shit and piss people off.
 
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Awesome! I hope we have Playstation for many decades to come, but that it returns more to what made its beginning so great. Here's to the years to come! 🍺
 
ProtoByte said:
... 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.
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Undoubtedly, but if Sony wants to parade around these figures, I'll take them at their word. And then I'll ask the logical questions: why are you jacking up your prices and firing your employees? Anyone still trying to justify corporate greed isn't a serious person.
 
RetroGamingUK said:
This generation they've also made headway into Asian markets like China and India, they're truly a global brand now.
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I think that their Hero project initiative in China first, India later, and now Africa are quite amazing ideas to both bring new developers to the table (which is producing results helping the Sony brand and the software diversity of their ecosystem they have publishing deals with), elevate the quality of the CS / Gaming / Digital Arts related curricula and the quality of the teams everyone outsources some work to, and also cultivate relationships in these emerging economies which would help popularise their IPs and their HW.

Sony has always looked after the territories their competitors for some reason always under invested. Mainland EU for MS, Middle East, etc…
 
Exede said:
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)
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This is extremely disingenuous. Mega corporations have to keep their shareholders happy. A baseline of profit is expected. When you're an investor in the corporation expecting ROI (Return On Investment), you don't want to hear "we decided to leave money on the table by not responding to changing market conditions which have made our product more expensive to produce and sell." You want to hear that price adjustments were made to respond to those changing conditions to maintain the profit standard you have already been enjoying.

This is how companies stay in business. Eating higher costs and taking losses in order to get good publicity might be great for us, the end user, but they're unhealthy for the business.

You don't need to ever feel sorry for Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, or any mega corporation. But the fact of the matter is, they are not your friends and they are always going to make the decisions that are best for their long-term survival and the company as a whole. If it bothers you so much, don't buy the product. But I wish you luck finding a player in any industry that will not make price adjustments to maintain the profitability that they are accustomed to.


tenor.gif
 
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$13B in profits during the PS5 era is huge, and Sony deserves credit. But I think it's important to put this success in context.
First, competition is weaker than ever. Xbox hasn't been a real threat for years, and Nintendo operates in its own space. Sony essentially dominates the "core console" market - this kind of soft monopoly allows them to raise prices (hardware, services, games) without much pushback. And people keep buying.

Sony's long-term strength lies in smart execution, not innovation. Historically, PlayStation has been reactive:
  • Analog sticks, rumble, motion controls - all adopted after Nintendo.
  • PS Plus came after Xbox Live.
  • PS Portal clearly rides the coattails of Switch/Steam Deck.
  • Even their controller layout now borrows heavily from Xbox after the PS3 era.
Their first-party games are high-quality, but rarely groundbreaking. Astro Bot, for example, is great fun - but it's essentially a Nintendo platformer in a PlayStation skin.
That said, one major factor behind PlayStation's rise that often gets overlooked is Sony's multimedia empire. Being a leader in consumer electronics gave PlayStation a unique edge:
  • PS1 used CDs when others stuck with cartridges
  • PS2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market at launch
  • PS3 helped win the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD war
  • Even today, the PlayStation brand benefits from Sony's broader ecosystem of TVs, film, music, and media tech
What truly sets Sony apart is:
  • Global reach and strong regional marketing
  • A developer-friendly platform (unlike Nintendo's closed system, especially in the past)
  • Consistent investment in first-party studios and IPs
  • Building a "premium" brand image with cinematic, big-budget games
  • Capitalizing on missteps by competitors -> PS4's rise was fueled by Xbox One's poor launch, and PS5 benefited from Xbox's... well everything really xD
Sony didn't win this generation by reinventing the wheel - they won by executing better than anyone else. And that's worth acknowledging, even if you don't love their approach. Interesting to see if they'll finally be brave enough to do some experimenting themselves, let's hope so!
 
ZehDon said:
Undoubtedly, but if Sony wants to parade around these figures, I'll take them at their word. And then I'll ask the logical questions: why are you jacking up your prices and firing your employees? Anyone still trying to justify corporate greed isn't a serious person.
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It's not that simple.
The reality is that corporations keep people paid and operations going on a rolling basis. All of this revenue/profit, where is it actually coming from? The vast majority of it is not coming from PS. Its coming from Sony's cut of live service MTX revenue and 3rd party game sales. Thats not necessarily new, but Sony's bloated their first party all around by over-hiring and buying up several new studios with a very large cumulative headcount and overhead therein. Almost all of these acquisitions/major Xdev collabs have been outright failures or are clogged in the pipeline because they're on their way to being failures. In this part fiscal year they've cancelled 2 live service projects between Bend and Bluepoint, launched and pulled Concord, had Haven Studios start to fully implode in slow motion, and canned a Spider-Man live service project and probably the planned Venom spinoff.

Businesses should be hawkish on their spending at the best of times, and right now is a lot more precarious than it looks on the surface. The leak from Sony's "most efficient studio" in Insomniac should've demonstrated that pretty clearly.
 
ProtoByte said:
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.

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.
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They're not simply highlighting the numbers that are more favorable. They're highlighting the numbers that investors care about more. There's a reason why more and more accounting standards are requiring detailed breakdowns of operating results by segment and disaggregation of expenses that primarily impact operating results. That's what investors want to know.
 
Ozzie666 said:
Greed, just pure greed. How much profit does a company need at the expense of it's customers whilst still laying off employees. Defend them if you want, the big corporation needs your support.
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They are not charity.
Sony margin are lower than both MS and Nintendo - go complain about those two being even more greedy.
The truth that Sony earns so much lies in fact that Playstation is widely popular and so have huge amount of sales that even given modest margin they have translate into huge profit numbers.
 
Wolzard said:
Taking inflation into account:

PS1: $5.8 billion.
PS2: $3.3 billion.
PS3: -5.6 billion.
PS4: $11.3 billion.
PS5: $10.2 billion.
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These are the useful numbers.

To me, the main reason PS5 is doing well is simply because PS4 did well and PS5 has been marketed as a continuation console much like the Switch 2. There's nothing revolutionary about it but then there doesn't need to be. Obviously most people are pretty happy with the machine if they're pouring so much money into it despite what doomsayers on the internet will have you believe.

The losses during the PS3 era were insane and likely single handedly explains the headline, but then again it humbled Sony and probably helped them in the long run. Getting Cerny to design the PS4 system architecture, moving them away from expensive custom designs (teh power of the Cell!) towards x86 plus borderline off-the-shelf AMD parts, was the way to go.

They also aren't needing to contend with expensive ah format wars any more with brand new Blu-ray tech in every console. I was puzzled by how much less money they made in the PS2 era until I remembered how high the hardware costs must've been with the DVD player.
 
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Killer8 said:
These are the useful numbers.

To me, the main reason PS5 is doing well is simply because PS4 did well and PS5 has been marketed as a continuation console much like the Switch 2. There's nothing revolutionary about it but then there doesn't need to be. Obviously most people are pretty happy with the machine if they're pouring so much money into it despite what doomsayers on the internet will have you believe.

The losses during the PS3 era were insane but then again it humbled Sony and probably helped them in the long run. Getting Cerny to design the PS4 system architecture, moving them away from expensive custom designs (teh power of the Cell!) towards x86 plus borderline off-the-shelf AMD parts, was the way to go.

They also aren't needing to contend with expensive ah format wars any more with brand new Blu-ray tech in every console. I was puzzled by how much less money they made in the PS2 era until I remembered how high the hardware costs must've been with the DVD player.
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The reason the 'PS5 generation' did so well is because the PS4 did well and continued to do well for most of this generation. PS5 only just became Sonys 'main' console.
 
And yet you gold medal retard Olympians are already lining up for your $80 preorders and $200 PS+ Pricing Tiers as you post defense essays on forums and podcasts about "MuH Inflaysion", "$80 Chronus Traggers in 1995", and "$300 billion gaymes" justifying it. May you choke on the shit sandwiches these companies stuff down your throat.
 
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Haint said:
And yet you gold medal retard Olympians are already lining up for your $80 preorders and $200 PS+ Pricing Tiers as you post defense essays on forums and podcasts about "MuH Inflaysion", "$80 Chronus Traggers in 1995", and "$300 billion gaymes" justifying it. May you choke on the shit sandwiches these companies stuff down your throat.
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Time Story GIF
 
This is pretty sad. We allow a company to completely waste a whole generation and we reward them for it. They can completely fuck up again with ps6 and it won't matter.
 
Even though I have played through all PlayStation generations, PS3 is the one I'm most fond of. The one that nearly sinked them gave me the most joy entertainment wise.
 
Shakka43 said:
Even though I have played through all PlayStation generations, PS3 is the one I'm most fond of. The one that nearly sinked them gave me the most joy entertainment wise.
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I think the Ps3 had the best system features of any console. A mutimedia machine with free online multiplayer, and the second most varied library of games behind the PS2, but lacks the big AAA exclusives like the PS4 and PS5.

If Microsoft keeps porting Xbox games to Playstation after the PS6 launches, and a Sony handheld releases while Vr gaming continues to grow and mature, next gen Playstation will have the most complete ecosystem for any console with hardware and games. The only thing different between a Playstation and PC will be power and the ability to use non gaming apps or hardware.
 
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I feel this news will hurt the haters big time, bring them back to reality...

There is what you feel and believe and then there is actual facts and stats.

So much content exist on PS, its hard to have any gen without it as a gamer without missing out on some massive properties.
 
Haint said:
And yet you gold medal retard Olympians are already lining up for your $80 preorders and $200 PS+ Pricing Tiers as you post defense essays on forums and podcasts about "MuH Inflaysion", "$80 Chronus Traggers in 1995", and "$300 billion gaymes" justifying it. May you choke on the shit sandwiches these companies stuff down your throat.
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Sony is the only one of the Big 3 that isn't selling $80 games yet what are you talking about?
 
EDMIX said:
I feel this news will hurt the haters big time, bring them back to reality...

There is what you feel and believe and then there is actual facts and stats.

So much content exist on PS, its hard to have any gen without it as a gamer without missing out on some massive properties.
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I set the Bitter Critters up to be exterminated a day early 😂 all the claims of not playing their PS5 & none of my friends play their PS5 yet cash is coming in from all the people playing on PS5 😭

So detached from realty and still won't admit that it's the blood in their eyes that's blurring their view don't even realize that they have been programmed to feel like everything is bad now

PS don't quote me with your BS logic I deal in reality not emotions 😂
 
Yep, PS5 is Sony's most successful console ever.
The cheerleaders are absolutely correct, more successful then PS1/PS2, obviously the PS3 and PS4.

it's more successful then the console with the most games, most exclusive and the biggest userbase.
The golden era of Playstation is absolutely nothing in comparison
let that sink in for a sec..... still smiling? feels good right? yeah?
Make-Up Face GIF by Justin
No difference
 
TGO said:
The golden era of Playstation is absolutely nothing in comparison
let that sink in for a sec..... still smiling? feels good right? yeah?
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People complaining about "golden era" is about the same as people compaining about gold box rpg
Those times are gone, market shifted and so is players preferences (en masse, not those of forum dwellers).. And Sony "follow the crowd" as it should as market leader.
It hurts feelings of those oldschoolers left behind, but it brings money for Sony.
 
DreamcastSkies said:
That's nuts. I feel like the PS5 library isn't that impressive but this is the power of a strong brand.
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how? they basically reduced microsoft to being a third party.
pretty much have the biggest library in their history, only missing nintendo first party titles.
only morons play some irrelevant list wars at this point.
 
MarV0 said:
It is impressive and sad at the same time.

Since the Playstation userbase has seen zero growth it's the same old Sony fans getting utterly milked.
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That's a good point lol.

I look at my own spending habits and I am partly to blame for Sony milking my money teat
 
Killer8 said:
These are the useful numbers.

To me, the main reason PS5 is doing well is simply because PS4 did well and PS5 has been marketed as a continuation console much like the Switch 2. There's nothing revolutionary about it but then there doesn't need to be. Obviously most people are pretty happy with the machine if they're pouring so much money into it despite what doomsayers on the internet will have you believe.

The losses during the PS3 era were insane and likely single handedly explains the headline, but then again it humbled Sony and probably helped them in the long run. Getting Cerny to design the PS4 system architecture, moving them away from expensive custom designs (teh power of the Cell!) towards x86 plus borderline off-the-shelf AMD parts, was the way to go.

They also aren't needing to contend with expensive ah format wars any more with brand new Blu-ray tech in every console. I was puzzled by how much less money they made in the PS2 era until I remembered how high the hardware costs must've been with the DVD player.
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PS gaming division profits skyrocketed the second console gamers started amping up on digital sales, which means all those cuts to from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart disc sales to Sony. And that goes for game sales and when mtx really ramped up which was middle of PS4 era.
 
The power of digital only consoles, no real digital games sales and huge subscription costs.

I will keep wishing for free online play for my paid games.
 
yogaflame said:
My theory of this weird phenomenon with PS5 big success even with so many Sony managements blunders:
1. Ps5 is really a good hardware.
2. PS fans are really patient and loyal.
3. There are so many Xbox refugee.
4. There are many gamers from PC community who finally brought Ps5 because they cannot wait for the one year or longer exclusivity on some ps5 exclusives or 2nd or 3rd party time exclusives.
5. Upcoming exclusives.
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6. Can't play borrowed/second-hand games on digital consoles. One sold digital game = (almost) only one household
7. Almost non-existent sales on digital PS5 first party titles.
8. High subscription costs
 
Famipan said:
6. Can't play borrowed/second-hand games on digital consoles. One sold digital game = (almost) only one household
7. Almost non-existent sales on digital PS5 first party titles.
8. High subscription costs
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You actually can borrow digital games through SharePlay if you have someone willing to give up their PS5 for a few hours

 
EDMIX said:
I feel this news will hurt the haters big time, bring them back to reality...

There is what you feel and believe and then there is actual facts and stats.

So much content exist on PS, its hard to have any gen without it as a gamer without missing out on some massive properties.
Click to expand...
It's weird people get funny about these numbers.

We've been discussing sales and other metrics for years on gaf nothing new. But now it's a problem?

Seems like some people built this delusion in their heads that Sony is now trouble, hoping concords failure to somehow cause them to go into the red or something.
 
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