Play Station 5 came out four years ago, and even though it’s praised for its technical capabilities, it faced a few bumps along the way. Both Sony and the users have been trying to figure out what’s next for the console and how to adjust to the poor reception.
This article will outline the problems the console is facing and some of the long-term trends that will shape its future. Some of these are about more than just the reception of the latest console from Sony – the changing attitudes of younger players cause them.
A Change in Projections
Sony has come out with the latest sale projections that significantly lower the shareholder’s expectations. This means Sony is open about the annual sales figure going down in the next fiscal year.
In financial terms, Sony anticipates ($81.7 billion) in sales for the current fiscal year, down from the previously projected $82 billion. In line with analyst expectations, revenue for the quarter ending December stood at $ 34.4 billion, with an operating profit of $3.084 billion.
Why is This Happening?
It’s difficult to pinpoint why the PS5 is not doing as well as it could. Sony still releases games made for PS4, which is one of the most beloved consoles out there, and the overall attitude towards gaming is somewhat changing.
Morningstar research director Kazunori Ito commented, “The result showed Sony spent a lot on promotions to sell the PS5, as the unit’s profitability deteriorated, but the number of units it shipped during the quarter was much weaker than expected.”
There’s a sense of saturation with the AAA games that take hours, if not days, of gameplay to complete and have complex movie-like stories. Other sources of entertainment include streaming, sites to gamble on with LTC, and casual mobile games. A lot of the players are intrigued by nostalgic games that mimic the look and feel of the 80s games, which require much less computing power.
No New Releases
In a surprising announcement, Sony said there will be no new releases of AAA games in the coming fiscal year, meaning until early 2025. This doesn’t mean there will be no games for PS5 at all, but that the big-name franchises won’t have sequels.
Some of the most anticipated sequels that we won’t see until April 2025 include flagship series’ like God of War Ragnarok, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, or the next installment of The Last of US. New games will come out during this fiscal year and will all be new IPs.
Some claim this can also be seen as a good thing since big game franchises have a sense of stagnation and repetitiveness. This is similar to what’s happening in Hollywood, with all the remakes and sequels coming out each year. There are a lot of indy companies out there that could use this year to showcase their work and release great games that will find a loyal base of players and maybe even lead to long-term ventures.
Focus on Cross-Platform IPs
In recent years, Sony has also stepped up their work when it comes to cross-platform games. Some of the biggest titles that were once released for PS4 only are now available to PC players as well. There are also mobile games that have had console versions released.
This is the platform’s direction and will happen more in the next couple of years. The biggest question remains how it affects the games made by the strongest competitor, Xbox. Since there won’t be new PS5 games for a while – titles like Hi-Fi Rush may come to PS5.
Digital Products
Even though the sale of consoles isn’t going as it’s supposed to, Sony is doing very well when it comes to the sale of digital products. After it launched the new version of PS Plus, which separated the service into three different tiers, Sony has seen a rise in revenue, even with the lowered number of subscriptions.
In a recently released report, Sony revealed that PlayStation Plus Premium had 8 million subscribers as of March 2023, with PS Plus Extra sitting at 6.1 million. The higher PS Plus tiers now account for 30% of total users, with Sony recently confirming that PlayStation Plus has 47.4 million subscribers across all three tiers.
Games Database
With a renewed interest in retro games, Sony has also added the category of a classic to its catalogue. It’s a part of the most expensive tier in the PS Plus lineup, and many players claim that it’s the main reason they are paying for the most costly option.
The catalog has been much-reviewed and talked about. Most reviewers claim that it’s an exciting idea, but it’s somewhat limited at the moment as many titles are worth the spot and haven’t been added yet.
Moving Beyond PS5
There are some who claim that the poor results PS5 has shown so far may lead Sony to move beyond it and look toward the next iteration of the console. This isn’t the first time that a console didn’t work out as planned, regardless of the tech behind it – both PS2 and PS4 were beloved, but PS3 kind of slipped under the radar.
It may be too early to call it quits, but some insiders claim that PS6 is in the works and may be introduced in 2025.
A Pro Version
There have been leaks out there. Sony will introduce a pro version of PS5 in November of 2024. If PS4 Pro is an example to follow, it will be a much more powerful version of the initial console. Sony’s DLSS-like solution system packs the potential to improve frame rates drastically by up to 50%.
That would have a massive impact on any potential performance gains. It’s not yet clear if the performance boost could save PS5, especially since it will come out in a year with no new big franchise games coming out.
New VR Device
Sony will also lean into VR devices now when the technology has advanced enough that it allows for new and exciting games. Games made for PSVR 2 will keep coming out during this fiscal year, regardless of the policy on PS5 games. A few exciting titles have already garnered hype and favourable reviews.
Behemoth will come out sometime in 2024, and so will the much-anticipated Low-Fi, a cyberpunk VR game developed by Iris VR. Metro Awakening is also in the works and is supposed to come out this year. It’s the first venture into VR for the Metro series.
Conclusion
Sony’s console PS5 has been out for a few years now, and regardless of how much Sony has pushed it and how many great games have been released for it, it’s not selling as much as the company would like to. The company has already announced that there won’t be any big franchise games for it in the next fiscal year.
This means Sony will have to make some changes in the years to come. Some claim that it will release a pro version that will replace the PS5, others that it will move on to a new console entirely. In the meantime, Sony focuses on cross-platform efforts and a catalogue of smaller IPs.
