Sony will push ahead with the year-end launch of its new PlayStation 5 gaming console in a bid to capture demand for at-home entertainment that has been boosted by the coronavirus lockdown.
The decision to proceed with the PS5 rollout — which will coincide with the launch of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console — comes as the Japanese group wrestles with widespread disruption to its film, music and consumer electronics businesses that will wipe at least 30 per cent off its operating profits for the financial year ending in March 2021.
But Sony said software downloads and the amount of time people spent playing games on its online PlayStation network have risen sharply from March as businesses and schools have shut down.
“As people refrain from going out, demand for digital entertainment has increased and we expect the trend to continue for some time,” Hiroki Totoki, Sony’s chief financial officer, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The pandemic caused some supply chain disruptions for the PlayStation 4 but sales of the console had already been declining as it neared the end of its life cycle. For the January to March quarter, Sony sold 66 per cent of PS4 software digitally compared with 45 per cent last year.
Mr Totoki said development of the PS5 was on track even as teleworking and travel restrictions “presented some challenges in regards to part of the testing process and the qualification of production lines”.
Serkan Toto, a games industry consultant, said Sony was left with no choice but to confirm the PS5’s launch since rival Microsoft had already pledged to stick with the rollout of Xbox Series X for the Christmas season.
“It could still be a scaled back launch. This is not an ideal situation for anybody,” Mr Toto said, adding that Sony may limit the initial sales of the new console to the US and Europe.
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For the fiscal fourth quarter, Sony reported a 57 per cent drop in operating profit to ¥35.4bn ($330m) due to a ¥68.2bn hit from the Covid-19 outbreak. Revenue fell 18 per cent from a year earlier on a sharp decline in demand for smartphones and televisions.
The company withheld guidance for the new financial year through March 2021, but warned that the year-on-year operating profit decline would be at least 30 per cent.
Supply chain disruptions and the economic slowdown have hurt global demand for smartphones, but Sony closed off the 2019-2020 fiscal year with a 31 per cent increase in image sensor revenue.
Mr Totoki said the company had already decided to go ahead with 80 per cent of its midterm ¥1tn-plus capital spending budget for its image sensor business, but it will weigh market conditions before going ahead with the remaining portion.
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2020-05-13 13:23:53Z
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