Sony PlayStation Soaring Amid Industry Decline in Consumer Spend
08.03.2023 - 18:17
/ variety.com
Kaare Eriksen Information Editor Note: This article is based on content from Variety Intelligence Platform’s special report “2023 Media & Tech Trend Tracker,” available exclusively to subscribers. Sony Interactive Entertainment in February announced PlayStation Playmakers, a new initiative to partner with names like LeBron James on promoting the console brand. For anyone else in gaming, this move would come across as a plea for consumers to spend at levels not seen since 2021. But for Sony, it’s capping off a return to form.
Video gaming was marred by consistent year-over-year drops in consumer content spend, a trend that continued into January. But PlayStation 5 consoles recently overcame a shortage in semiconductor chips, which led to 7.1 million units shipped by Sony in the fourth quarter of 2022, a new record for PS5.
The end result? PlayStation resisted the content sales decline. The 2022 holiday quarter saw revenue from hardware sales more than double year over year, skyrocketing from just under $1.5 billion to more than $3.2 billion. In turn, total software sales went up more than 30% for the quarter, with a nearly 20% increase in revenue observed for network services as well. Overall, revenue for Sony Group’s Game & Network Services segment increased 53% year-over-year from the 2021 holiday quarter. The latest earnings season spelled trouble for those strictly in the software business. Top publishers are making cuts as a result, be it EA axing mobile versions of “Apex Legends” and “Battlefield” or Take-Two Interactive announcing layoffs as its publisher Rockstar hunkers down on getting the next “Grand Theft Auto” game out the door. Activision Blizzard was spared the pain of the consumer spend dip, as October’s
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.