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Sony will move forward with the year-end launch of its new PlayStation 5 game console in an attempt to capture the demand for home entertainment that has been fueled by the coronavirus crash.
The decision to proceed with the launch of PS5, which will coincide with the launch of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console, comes as the Japanese group struggles with a widespread disruption to its film, music and consumer electronics businesses that will eliminate the minus 30 percent. your operating profit for the financial year ending March 2021.
But Sony said that software downloads and the amount of time people spend playing games on its PlayStation online network have increased sharply since March as companies and schools have closed.
“As people refrain from going out, the demand for digital entertainment has increased and we expect the trend to continue for some time,” Hiroki Totoki, Sony’s chief financial officer, said in a briefing on Wednesday.
The pandemic caused some disruptions in the supply chain for PlayStation 4, but sales of the console had already declined as the end of its life cycle approached. For the January-March quarter, Sony sold 66 percent of PS4 software digitally compared to 45 percent last year.
Mr. Totoki said that the development of the PS5 was underway even when teleworking and travel restrictions “presented some challenges with respect to part of the testing process and qualification of production lines.”
Serkan Toto, a consultant to the gaming industry, said Sony had no choice but to confirm the launch of the PS5 as Microsoft had already promised to follow through with the launch of Xbox Series X for the holiday season.
“It could still be a small-scale launch. This is not an ideal situation for anyone, “said Toto, adding that Sony may limit initial sales of the new console to the United States and Europe.
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For the fiscal fourth quarter, Sony reported a 57% drop in operating profit to ¥ 35.4bn ($ 330m) due to a ¥ 68.2bn hit from the Covid-19 outbreak. Revenue fell 18 percent from a year earlier due to a sharp decline in demand for smartphones and televisions.
The company retained the guidance for the new financial year until March 2021, but warned that the decrease in operating profit from year to year would be at least 30 percent.
Supply chain disruptions and the economic slowdown have affected global demand for smartphones, but Sony closed the 2019-2020 fiscal year with a 31% increase in image sensor revenue.
Totoki said the company had already decided to go ahead with 80 percent of its ¥ 1bn medium-term capital spending budget for its image sensor business, but will weigh market conditions before continuing with the remaining portion. .
