Sony revealed during its latest financial results presentation that while the PlayStation 5 is selling well, pushing out 92.2 million units as of February 5, the company’s plan now is to grow “software and network services revenue” by monetizing the existing install base.
According to an Automaton report, CFO Lin Tao addressed concerns during the presentation about securing enough PlayStation 5s to meet the demand in the wake of the ongoing memory chip shortage. Tao stated that Sony is already prepared to gather the minimum amount of memory chips necessary to meet the year-end sales season.
“Going forward, we intend to further negotiate with various suppliers to secure enough supply to meet the demand of our customers,” Tao said, explaining that the company’s goal is to “minimize the impact” of rising memory costs by focusing on “monetizing the installed base” and growing software and network services revenue. “We will continue to monitor the situation while working to minimize the impact on profitability, too.”
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The PlayStation 5 has been out since November 2020, making it nearly six years old this holiday season. Console lifecycles tend to last anywhere between five and seven years, and co-CEO Hideaki Nishino has said that Sony wants the PS5 to have a 10-year lifespan. With the next PlayStation likely not coming until after 2028, according to some analysts, it would seem to make sense that Sony is focusing more on network and software sales rather than just strictly hardware sales.
Experts Bloomberg spoke to in February discussed the impact AI has on hardware manufacturing, claiming that Sony’s PS6 plans have been throw in disarray because of it. Tao even suggested that the company’s hardware sales strategy can be adjusted with great flexibility, further suggesting the PS5 isn’t going anywhere yet.