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[onQ123]

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.

It's just history repeating itself
La Resistance




Post in thread 'Mat Piscatella (NPD) - Helldivers 2 is a huge hit, but it's mostly coming from PC. (Update: tweets deleted, no evidence provided)' https://www.neogaf.com/threads/mat-...d-no-evidence-provided.1667400/post-268937153

 

[mckmas8808]

$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!

I like your post, but it's kind of a lie. Sony's execution and openness is the best thing they do, but to say they don't experiment or innovate is insane!

 

[crackajack]

PlayStation would do perfectly fine without any exclusive game.

The independence from having to nail anything themselves, should theoretically allow more risks and some innovative projects but they utterly failed to deliver. Sinking a ton of effort in gaas, where only a few ever getting announced and fewer launching with success.
The gen is alright, undeniably still an improvement, but meh so far from Sony themselves.

 

[Cakeboxer]

The independence from having to nail anything themselves, should theoretically allow more risks and some innovative projects

I think it's actually the oposite. If everything is working without exclusive games, why even risc it? Just one 1 AAA failure today means hundreds of millions. The purpose of exclusive games is to convince customers to buy your product instead the the competitor's. Without Xbox there is no more competitor in the high end console market anymore. Just the cute little Switch with "stone age" hardware that has another concept and a different audience.

 

[deriks]

Holy fuck that's alot of money. I feel like xbox killing themselves has helped drive profits for playstation.

For sure helped, but "killing themselves" is not the right sentence

Five years and both of them don't have the game that asks to buy their console. Since Microsoft don't know how marketing works, and weird decisions one after another, people prefer to play it safe and comfy with a PS5

But don't fool yourself. Xbox sells less hardware, but Microsoft is first and foremost a service company. They still make a lot of money, and selling their games on PS5 just help them

 

[Dodo123]

I like your post, but it's kind of a lie. Sony's execution and openness is the best thing they do, but to say they don't experiment or innovate is insane!

I know that some of the words I used are strong and I agree it's fair to say Sony innovates in SOME areas, but I'd argue most of it is refinement, not invention. What I meant wasn't that Sony never innovates - more that their overall strategy has historically been more reactive than pioneering, but again, just my opinion

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

but I'd argue most of it is refinement, not invention.

I'd argue that invention is absolutley nothing without refiment and proper market positioning.

Apple didn't invent tablets, smartphones and even PCs. Yet it found a viable solution for them to work on a broader market with a huge customer base. Same with Sony. Like yes, technically N64 was the first console with an analoge stick, but it was DualShock that showed and explained to the broad playerbase that they need this tech. Same with rumble. Same with many other things. And Sony took plenty of risks, from truly unique CELL that helped a lot with multithreading in games to beautifully failed OG Vita that paved the way for mass-market OLED screens.

 

[onQ123]

So after all the fear mongering about the return of Arrogant Sony & how bad things would be for everyone because PlayStation doesn't have any competition ( Which is a lie they have more competition now because you can play games anywhere & PC is actually a good place for devs & publishers thanks to Steam ) it happens to be the competition who raised the game prices 1st while PlayStation continued on to have a big sale .

After all the talk about PS5 Pro price for months look how quickly Xbox Series price hikes has been swept under a rug


Now everyone is waiting for PlayStation to adjust their prices so they can make a big deal about it.

Lastly: This new narrative that PlayStation 5 success was handed to them by Xbox is just dumb there is threads here celebrating how the power of Series X was going to kill PS5 then that same thread turned into a celebration for Xbox buying up all the publishers. Now we have threads about how this is PlayStation's worst generation & how GaaS is killing PlayStation but when the numbers don't add up to all the foolishness all of a sudden it's because of Xbox giving them a easy ride.

Do you think you're talking to children?

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I just realized once PS6 is releases and the cross-gen period is even bigger, we're about to have an even worse period of "PS6 has no exclusives" for like 4 or 5 years lol.

Mentally preparing myself for that.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I just realized once PS6 is releases and the cross-gen period is even bigger, we're about to have an even worse period of "PS6 has no exclusives" for like 4 or 5 years lol.

Mentally preparing myself for that.

Hopefully there won't be another pandemic.

I expect another cross gen period, but it may actually be shorter this time.

 

[onQ123]

Hopefully there won't be another pandemic.

I expect another cross gen period, but it may actually be shorter this time.

If anything it will be longer & maybe still include PS4 because logic tells us that a game that is sold across over 100 million devices has a better chance at success.



We will get some big exclusives to sell the hardware but most games will try to make as much money as possible across the devices that are already in people's homes.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Hopefully there won't be another pandemic.

I expect another cross gen period, but it may actually be shorter this time.

It...will be longer. PS5 just surpassed PS4 as the Playstation with more monthly users and it happened during the year of April 2024 and March 2025. 4 years after PS5 came out.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Yo Sony, I'm happy for you dawg an all that..

Where the fucks Wipeout?

 

[mckmas8808]

If anything it will be longer & maybe still include PS4 because logic tells us that a game that is sold across over 100 million devices has a better chance at success.



We will get some big exclusives to sell the hardware but most games will try to make as much money as possible across the devices that are already in people's homes.

There's literally ZERO chance for a AAA game to come out on all three x86 Playstations. No way! I won't believe that.

 

[onQ123]

There's literally ZERO chance for a AAA game to come out on all three x86 Playstations. No way! I won't believe that.

If the HDD isn't a hard limitation we most definitely will see games still taking advantage of the large user-base especially with Switch & Switch 2 in the picture. You might see the older consoles getting the game a little later than the current Gen like Hogwarts & The Finals did.

 

[Hudo]

Surely, SURELY a tiny bit of that money could be invested into a new Motorstorm and/or Wipeout game, right? It will make you a (probably small) profit. At least more than Concord.

 

[p_xavier]

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.

 

[yurinka]

Sonys GaaS adventure crashed and burned mid launch. Out of the 12 gaas games they said they would release by 2025, only two launched.

They did put 6 of them in the market, and 4 of them (MLB, GT, Destiny and Helldivers) are so successful that theire profits must be already higher than the budget of the rest (including failed, cancelled or non-greenlighted ones).

The original deadline was end of March 2026. From now until then they may have released Midnight Murder Club, Marathon, Convallaria and Marvel Tokon.

That would mean they'd have released 10/12 by the original deadline.

Does this mean lots of new games are dropping soon?

Yes, every month and year you get lots of new games on PS.

 

[yurinka]

You are wrong sonny Jim as Astro Bot and Stellar Ass are selling like hot cakes whilst LBGT Concock are selling like herpes.

Astro and Stellar are one and dones, heck they didn't even break 5 million sales combined.

GaaS provides the possibility of steady income, where as your Astro and Stellar does not.

When comparing successful GaaS vs successful non-GaaS in terms of revenue there are three main differences:

• GaaS doesn't focus the revenue in the launch window, but instead to keep it more steady over years (so making it more predictable and sustainable)
• The GaaS produces way more revenue
• GaaS starts to get revenue once they release a minimum viable product instead of having to wait until they completed the development of the whole stuff. Meaning, if the game doesn't work they can shut it down saving the investment of having the develop the rest of the stuff

The amount of money made by GaaS like MLB, GT7, Destiny 2 or Helldivers 2 is way higher than the one generated by the few million copies sold by Astro Bot and Stellar Blade.

And that's ok, Sony is happy with both Astro Bot and Stellar Blade because they were successful at their goal: to successfully expand their first/2nd party lineup to new audiences/niches to get new user demographics.

Sony didn't expect them to be top sellers or huge moneymakers: with Astro they wanted to grow in the kids & family area with a 3D platformer, and with Stellar Blade wanted to grow in China and Korea with a second party waifu action adventure developed there.

 

[mckmas8808]

If the HDD isn't a hard limitation we most definitely will see games still taking advantage of the large user-base especially with Switch & Switch 2 in the picture. You might see the older consoles getting the game a little later than the current Gen like Hogwarts & The Finals did.

That's my issue. No game releasing in 2028 should be okay to run on a mechanical platter HDD.

They did put 6 of them in the market, and 4 of them (MLB, GT, Destiny and Helldivers) are so successful that theire profits must be already higher than the budget of the rest (including failed, cancelled or non-greenlighted ones).

The original deadline was end of March 2026. From now until then they may have released Midnight Murder Club, Marathon, Convallaria and Marvel Tokon.

That would mean they'd have released 10/12 by the original deadline.


Yes, every month and year you get lots of new games on PS.

I don't think this is true.

 

[DukeOfX]

You are wrong sonny Jim as Astro Bot and Stellar Ass are selling like hot cakes whilst LBGT Concock are selling like herpes.

Stellar CAKE!

 

[yurinka]

I don't think this is true.

It is true, the original deadline was the end of FY25, a.k.a. March 31, 2026. You can go to check the original Sony statements in the related 2021/2022 threads.

They dropped that milestone because they were reviewing the projects and only had 6 confirmed ones to achieve it, had more to be reviewed but knew some weren't going to make it.

As of now the status of the list seem to be:

1. MLB - released
2. GT - released
3. Destiny - released
4. Firewall - released
5. Helldivers - released
6. Concord - released
7. Marathon - in theory to be released before April 2026
8. Midnight Murder Club - in theory to be released before April 2026
9. Convallaria - in theory to be released before April 2026 (2025 date)
10. Marvel Tokon - in theory to be released in 2026, who knows if before April
11. Fairgame$ - TBA, pretty likely after March 2026. I bet 2027
12. Horizon Online - TBA, pretty likely after March 2026. I bet 2027

Buffer of games to be released later, to keep replacing the previous GaaS who die and pretty likely outside the scope of these first dozen:

• Gummy Bear / Matter from Team LFG
• Dark Outlaw first game, in case it's GaaS
• Media Molecule's next game in case it's GaaS
• People Can Fly game (far away, it's in prototype stage) in case it's GaaS
• Maybe some other one they may have signed and we don't know, as could be a Chinese or Korean waifu gatcha like Shift Up's Project Spirits or something from China Hero Project

 

[mckmas8808]

It is, the original deadline was the end of FY25, a.k.a. March 31, 2026. You can go to check the original Sony statements in the related 2021/2022 threads.

They dropped that milestone because they were reviewing the projects and only had 6 confirmed ones to achieve it, had more to be reviewed but knew some weren't going to make it.

As of now the status of the list seem to be:

1. MLB - released
2. GT - released
3. Destiny - released
4. Firewall - released
5. Helldivers - released
6. Concord - released
7. Marathon - in theory to be released before April 2026
8. Midnight Murder Club - in theory to be released before April 2026
9. Convallaria - in theory to be released before April 2026
10. Marvel Tokon - in theory to be released in 2026, who knows if before April
11. Fairgame$ - TBA, pretty likely after March 2026
12. Horizon Online - TBA, pretty likely after March 2026

Buffer of games to be released later, to keep replacing the previous GaaS who die and pretty likely outside the scope of these first dozen:

• Gummy Bear / Matter from Team LFG
• Dark Outlaw first game, in case it's GaaS
• Media Molecule's next game in case it's GaaS
• People Can Fly game (far away, it's in prototype stage) in case it's GaaS
• Maybe some other one they may have signed and we don't know, as could be a Chinese or Korean waifu gatcha like Shift Up's Project Spirits or something from China Hero Project

Okay, I remembered the 2025 part. But forgot it was fiscal year and not calendar year. But no way in the world would I believe Sony was counting some of the games you've counted there. I think they are trying to replace some of their canceled games with new ones or different GAAS Games that make sense.

 

[yurinka]

Okay, I remembered the 2025 part. But forgot it was fiscal year and not calendar year. But no way in the world would I believe Sony was counting some of the games you've counted there. I think they are trying to replace some of their canceled games with new ones or different GAAS Games that make sense.

From my working experience working in GaaS -mainly F2P, and mainly mobile- plus many friends in several other top companies making GaaS this is how it works:

1. A lot of GaaS get pitched, only a portion of them get greenlighted to enter production (like in non-GaaS games)
2. A portion of the greenlighted ones get cancelled during development if don't pass some internal reviews (like in non-GaaS games)
3. A portion of the remaining ones get cancelled after limited public playtests of a MVP if not reaching certain KPIs (known as softlaunches in mobile gaming, which is to release it in one or a few countries before the global release)
4. The remaining ones get a global release, some get canned soon after launch if not reaching certain KPIs. Of the successful ones, part of the team leaves to start a new project and go back to point 1. Of the unsuccessful ones, the whole team goes back to point 1. A new 'live ops' team joins to work supporting the game, taking care of the servers, adding new content, etc.
5. The remaining ones keep getting post launch support as long as it makes financial sense. It scales as much as money produced is bigger than user acquisition and live ops cost allow. Once numbers are too low first the resources in post launch support get gradually decreased (by moving people to other teams, or even moving the project to a cheaper team), until a point where isn't worth to keep supporting the game but still makes enough money to pay the servers. During all this process, some server optimizations have been made and servers have been scaled down to reduce server cost. Time later the game doesn't make enough money to pay the servers and gets shut down. By the time it gets shut down everybody is already working in some other games, some of them already released when this game shot down

The bigger the number of the point is, the way less games remains. The company plans that only a limited number of games will pass from each stage to the next one because there's a limited budget to have X games under full develeopment, X games in live ops, etc. despite having a certain degree of flexibility depending on performance (after the break even the live ops get self funded).

Failure is ok and expected in a big percentage, particularly in the earliest points. In fact, the faster the better because that means they waste less momey in an unsuccessful project. Statistically (it's assumed to have competent teams) a few projects end being very successful and their profits more than compensate the not profitable ones.

TLDR: It's a strategy similar to VC investing in startups: throw a lot of shit to the wall and see what sticks filtering step by step investing in teams that are supposed to know how to make shit that sticks and are cooking tacos that seem to produce sticky shit. Repeat in loop failing as fast as possible to waste less money in shit thad doesn't stick.

 

[Justin9mm]

I'm not surprised with their overpriced portal, controllers, headsets etc.

 

[PixelatedBeast]

I'm not surprised with their overpriced portal, controllers, headsets etc.

Overpriced? Switch 2 cost as much or more than a Digital Ps5 and Xbox Series X cost more than a Ps5 pro.

 

[OuterLimits]

Pretty impressive considering how dominant some of their legacy consoles already were.

They also weren't making tons of cash from PS+ though back in those early gens.

 

[sendit]

$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!

Lets compare who experimented the most:

PS5
- PS VR2: Only console with high-end VR support.
- DualSense: Adaptive triggers, haptics, motion—major evolution in controllers.
- 3D Audio: Tempest Engine uses custom hardware for spatial sound.
- I/O Architecture: Offloads decompression from CPU, enabling seamless asset streaming.

Xbox Series X/S
- Controller: No change
- VR: No support
- Exclusives: None

Switch 2
- Display: Downgrade from OLED
- Game Price: Increased to $80

 

[Jacobson]

Lets compare who experimented the most:

PS5
- PS VR2: Only console with high-end VR support.
- DualSense: Adaptive triggers, haptics, motion—major evolution in controllers.
- 3D Audio: Tempest Engine uses custom hardware for spatial sound.
- I/O Architecture: Offloads decompression from CPU, enabling seamless asset streaming.

Xbox Series X/S
- Controller: No change
- VR: No support
- Exclusives: None

Switch 2
- Display: Downgrade from OLED
- Game Price: Increased to $80

somehow i'm not surprised with your idiot takes because of your profile picture

 

[sendit]

somehow i'm not surprised with your idiot takes because of your profile picture

you got me

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

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.

Still NO return policy on games

No free or even cheaper tier for people who JUST want to play the occasional online multiplayer game.

Those two things are the biggest bullshit greed policies from Sony that make me want to pull my hair out.

 

[Loxus]

Yet apparently Sony focusing on GaaS is a bad thing?

Today's generation of gamers don't like single player games.

Most of them grew up with Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox.

I can't name one, but that's just me.

Gen Z and younger, are not big into single player games the way past gens were.

Can we please stop with this.

Multi-player was a big thing with the Xbox 360 and PS3 when playing online was first introduced.

There was a lot of single-player games that had multi-player attached to it on XB360/PS3.

Games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto IV multi-player was a big thing back in the day, now everyone acting like multi-player is some new concept.

I swear the gaming community is suffering from memory loss or something. It's hilarious.

 

[Crm114]

That's pretty crazy. Helps that they actually started making a bit of money or breaking even with the PS5 at launch instead of selling it at a loss.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

This can't be, I was told my members of GAF that Sony is doomed.

 

[John Wick]

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.

I think you'll find American companies to be far far more greedy than any others. Just look at what Apple, MS, Google, Facebook and Amazon as examples of pure greed. What they earn in profit to what they pay their employees is in a different league to Sony...........
Just sayin........

 

[SlimySnake]

I think you'll find American companies to be far far more greedy than any others. Just look at what Apple, MS, Google, Facebook and Amazon as examples of pure greed. What they earn in profit to what they pay their employees is in a different league to Sony...........
Just sayin........

Sony moved their Playstation Headquarters to the U.S in 2016. Their ps division is effectively a u.s entity.

 

[TGO]

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.

Nah I think people would be cheering them on more if they actually deserve it.
Financially this is the best Playstation Era, but the overall experience they've actually produced for gamers (excluding 3rd Party efforts) is poor.
It's like having a rich friend in a group of 5 everyone puts towards a $100 pot and they only put in $10.
Some ain't impressed by this but the 2 other guys defend him saying how great he is and that he does contribute and raves about his success and call other guys haters.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Sony moved their Playstation Headquarters to the U.S in 2016. Their ps division is effectively a u.s entity.

It can be moved back if Sony Japan decide so.

That last State of Play was the most Japanese one we've ever had, seems the tide may be turning.

 

[Bogroll]

Well done Sony! Look forward to you making even more with PS6 and me playing Astrobot Remastered.

 

[Boneless]

What about total market share for the gaming market?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Yo Sony, I'm happy for you dawg an all that..

Where the fucks Wipeout?

Where's just about any fucking first party game?

Where's Sly, Jak, Socom, wipeout, syphon filter, legend of dragoon, ape escape, killzone, warhawk and a shit ton of other awesome exclusive IP's?

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Where's just about any fucking first party game?

Where's Sly, Jak, Socom, wipeout, syphon filter, legend of dragoon, ape escape, killzone, warhawk and a shit ton of other awesome exclusive IP's?

When you put it like that, it just makes it worse

Man, Syphon filter, what a game.

 

[onQ123]

Where's just about any fucking first party game?

Where's Sly, Jak, Socom, wipeout, syphon filter, legend of dragoon, ape escape, killzone, warhawk and a shit ton of other awesome exclusive IP's?

Check the sales of the last few entries in all these games & you will have your answer they all got replaced by bigger games if the studios are still around.

 

[yurinka]

Where's just about any fucking first party game?

Where's Sly, Jak, Socom, wipeout, syphon filter, legend of dragoon, ape escape, killzone, warhawk and a shit ton of other awesome exclusive IP's?

All these ones are pretty likely dead because they (or most recent entries in case of series) didn't sell well enough to release more.

There are tons of other first party games being released every generation. And they sell way better than these old ones you mentioned.

As an example, last year they released 7 new games plus The Final Shape expansion and 6 ports/remasters. For this year they already released or have announced 6 new games (assuming Marathon and Convallaria aren't 2025 games) and 4 remasters, plus the 2 Destiny expansions and on top of this they also licensed these 3 releases to Bandai Namco.

What about total market share for the gaming market?

Last fiscal year SIE (not counting gaming stuff in other Sony divisions) made 4,670 billion yen, which is around $32.1B. Out of this, 2,508,083M + 669,873M = 3,177,956M yen ($21.85B) are console + PC game revenue including the gamesub.

Newzoo's forecasts estimated in March that console game software revenue -including gamesubs- made $43B in 2024. Around almost half of that is from SIE: in FY24, SIE made 3,177,956M-96,425M=3,081,531M ($21.18B) in PS consoles (not counting SIE revenue in rival consoles or revenue made by Sony outside SIE by people like Aniplex).

According to Newzoo's estimate of PC and consolle software revenue including gamesubs for (calendar, not fiscal) 2024 was $80.2B. SIE's $21.85B software revenue made last (fiscal, not calendar) year, which is around 27% of that.

In other forecast (March 2025) Newzoo also estimated that when adding mobile the total game software revenue (including gamesubs) was $177.9B. SIE's $21.85B software revenue made in a year (fiscal, not calendar) would be around 12.28% of that.

 

[FStubbs]

If the HDD isn't a hard limitation we most definitely will see games still taking advantage of the large user-base especially with Switch & Switch 2 in the picture. You might see the older consoles getting the game a little later than the current Gen like Hogwarts & The Finals did.

Switch 1 and 2 will be cross gen for awhile too, in part because of the game card situation on 2 and backwards compatibility.

 

[onQ123]

All these ones are pretty likely dead because they (or most recent entries in case of series) didn't sell well enough to release more.

There are tons of other first party games being released every generation. And they sell way better than these old ones you mentioned.

As an example, last year they released 7 new games plus The Final Shape expansion and 6 ports/remasters. For this year they already released or have announced 6 new games (assuming Marathon and Convallaria aren't 2025 games) and 4 remasters, plus the 2 Destiny expansions and on top of this they also licensed these 3 releases to Bandai Namco.

For example Sly Cooper probably sold less than 5 million all together but Ghost of Tsushima sold over 13 million but people think Sucker Punch is going to focus on Sly?

Killzone sold maybe 10 million when you included all 4 main games & the portable games but Horizon : Zero Dawn sold 24 million by itself but again people putting on an act asking where is Killzone .

 

[yurinka]

For example Sly Cooper probably sold less than 5 million all together but Ghost of Tsushima sold over 13 million but people think Sucker Punch is going to focus on Sly?

Killzone sold maybe 10 million when you included all 4 main games & the portable games but Horizon : Zero Dawn sold 24 million by itself but again people putting on an act asking where is Killzone .

Yes, maybe the Killzone series sold a bit more but these estimates make total sense and show a good perspective of the studios with their current versus old IPs. Same applies with others as could be in ND with TLOU vs Jak, or in Insomniac with Spider-Man versus old non-Ratchet stuff. In their case at least they may a Ratchet or so per generation as smaller, 'low cost' side project.

We also have to remember that nowdays one of these big Sony AAA titles (not Ratchet) cost over $200 or 300M. Meaning they need to sell several million copies to be profitable. So they normally focus on sequels of top selling titles or new IPs from top tier devs.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

PS3 was a money sinking train wreck but goddamn if it wasn´t the most beautiful money sinking train wreck of all time!

Best generation ever

 

[FoxMcChief]

For example Sly Cooper probably sold less than 5 million all together but Ghost of Tsushima sold over 13 million but people think Sucker Punch is going to focus on Sly?

Killzone sold maybe 10 million when you included all 4 main games & the portable games but Horizon : Zero Dawn sold 24 million by itself but again people putting on an act asking where is Killzone .

And that's why gamers here aren't happy with Sony's vision of only following up on huge hits.

Metroid doesn't push units like Animal Crossing, but Nintendo hasn't abandoned the IP.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

This generation had massive bleed over from the previous generation. For the vast majority of games this generation, last gen was also supported.

It's probably pretty easy to break profit records when you don't abandon an install base of 100+ million PS4 users.