All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2020 Edition]

[Shortbread]

Fate/Grand Order Surpasses $4 Billion After Becoming Japan’s Top Grossing Mobile Game of 2019

Fate/Grand Order from Sony’s Aniplex continues to be one of the world’s most lucrative mobile games, having just surpassed $4 billion in lifetime player spending according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

There was definitely more reason and appetite to upgrade to the X - biggest performance gain, the best version of most 3rd party games and Xbox fans coming back...whereas for PS4 to Pro it's really just for those who want the best version of the games they play...hence my thoughts the ratio would be higher, but the sticky point which makes me want to see data is the price!

Right, but it's quite clear that the vast majority are content with lesser performance. More people are content
with a 1.2Tf Xbox One S and 1.8Tf PS4 Slim than those who want to play console games the best they can be on their respective/preferred platforms.

With Microsoft mandating all Xbox games released for Xbox must work on the original 2013 platform, and most people obviously being happy with lesser performance, what is the incentive to buy a Series X unless Microsoft stop selling the One S? At least until Microsoft allow games exclusive to next gen.

I'm not sure MS exclusives coming to PC as well significantly impacts sales of Xbox consoles.

I didn't mention PC.

 

[BRiT]

To be perfectly clear, Microsoft never mandated third party games targeting XBSX need to run on X1.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

To be perfectly clear, Microsoft never mandated third party games targeting XBSX need to run on X1.

You're right. Microsoft did not say that. This is what Jason Schreier said devs were telling him that Microsoft are mandating - from Kotaku's Splitscreen podcast in December.

 

[goonergaz]

Right, but it's quite clear that the vast majority are content with lesser performance.

Well that’s the point, since the release of X there’s no data to show how sales have gone. Of course the machines already sold can’t be unsold, but maybe since launch X has outsold S? We don’t know,..and if everyone is so happy with low power why are MS chasing the power crown?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Well that’s the point, since the release of X there’s no data to show how sales have gone. Of course the machines already sold can’t be unsold, but maybe since launch X has outsold S? We don’t know,..and if everyone is so happy with low power why are MS chasing the power crown?

It's possible but there is no evidence to indicate that One X outselling One S/SAD. And I think that Microsoft would be suggested this if it were true or analysts would have reported it from their sources. You can ignore pre-X-launch sales and just focus on monthly X-vs-S/SAD sales figures.

The PS4/Pro split is also why I don't think Sony are focussed on performance.

 

[goonergaz]

It's possible but there is no evidence to indicate that One X outselling One S/SAD. And I think that Microsoft would be suggested this if it were true or analysts would have reported it from their sources.

well that’s my point lol

 

[Deleted member 11852]

well that’s my point lol

Are you arguing with me or against me? I no longer know. Brexit has made me crazy!

 

[Xbat]

According to Sony's financials 2019 was PlayStations second best year ever. Which is insane considering it's the end of a generation, shows you Plus must be killing it.

 

[Shortbread]

Era breakdown by ArmGunar: Sony Q3 FY2019 (Oct-Dec) Results - PS4: 6.1m (LTD: 108.9m) / 2019 is 2nd best year ever for PlayStation / PSN generated over $12.48B in 2019

Source 1: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/19q3_sonypre.pdf
Source 2: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/19q3_supplement.pdf

Sony Corporation - Q3 FY2019 (October - December 2019) :

Sony Revenue : ¥2463.2bn / $22.64B (+2.6% YoY from ¥2401.8bn / $21.27B - Q3 FY2018)
Sony Operating Profit : ¥300.1bn / $2.76B (-20.4% YoY from ¥377bn / $3.34B - Q3 FY2018)
Sony Net Profit : ¥229.5bn / $2.11B (-46.5% YoY from ¥429bn / $3.80B - Q3 FY2018)

• 3rd best Operating Profit ever for Sony during any quarter
• 3rd best Net Profit ever for Sony during any quarter

Last Q3, "Net profit" were inflated by these one-time gains :

• Remeasurement gain relating to consolidation of EMI (¥116.9bn / $1.03B)
• Reversal of valuation allowance for deferred tax assets (¥154.2bn / $1.37B)

Here's a table with Adjusted Results excluding one-time gain/loss, compared to Original Results

Top of Biggest Profit Drivers for the Quarter :

1. Electronic Products & Solutions : ¥80.3bn / $0.738B
2. Imaging & Sensing Solutions : ¥75.2bn / $0.691B
3. Game & Network Services : ¥53.5bn / $0.492B
4. Financial Services : ¥32.6bn / $0.300B
5. Music : ¥36.3bn / $0.334B
6. Pictures : ¥5.4bn / $0.050B

• 2nd best Revenue and Operating Profit ever for Music during Q3
• 2nd best Revenue and Operating Profit ever for Imaging & Sensing Solutions during any quarter
• 2nd best Revenue ever for Financial Services during any quarter

Gaming Division - Q3 FY2019 Results (October - December 2019) :

Gaming Revenue : ¥632.1bn / $5.81B (-20% YoY from ¥790.6bn / $7.00B - Q3 FY2018)
Gaming Operating Profit : ¥53.5bn / $0.492B (-26.8% YoY from ¥73.1bn / $0.647B - Q3 FY2018)

• 3rd best Revenue ever for PlayStation during any quarter

This quarter, the Gaming Division accounts for :
- 25.7% of Sony total Sales/Revenue (vs 32.9% - Q3 FY2018)
- 17.8% of Sony total Operating Profit (vs 18.4% - Q3 FY2018)


PS4 shipped : 6.1m (vs 8.1m - Q3 FY2018)
PS4 LTD : 108.9m

Software sold : 81.1m (vs 87.2m - Q3 FY2018)
Software digital ratio : 49% (vs 37% - Q3 FY2018)
Software sell-through LTD : 1.181 billion games
Software sell-in LTD (minimum) : > 1.148 billion games

• During this quarter, more than 10.20 games have been sold each second worldwide (= 881 000 games sold each day)
• More than 431 000 digital games have been sold-through each day on average on the PlayStation Store during Q3
  • doesn't include "download only software titles"
• 103 million players each spent ~ $27.21 on average on the PlayStation Store between Oct-Dec 2019

PS+ Members : 38.8m (up from 36.3m - Q3 FY2018)

• All-time high number of PS+ subscribers

 

[Shifty Geezer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1224575216258555904

That downward hump doesn't look any lessened to me from other generations without a mid-gen refresh. Can't find any decent data to compare though. rest of year seems pretty constant and its only Holiday that's greatly changed.

 

[Karamazov]

hmm no PSVR sales figures

 

[Nesh]

Usually Sony was posting large decreases of profits or significant losses near the end of a generation due to R&D costs.
Numbers look much better than what they were showing traditionally

 

[Xbat]

Usually Sony was posting large decreases of profits or significant losses near the end of a generation due to R&D costs.
Numbers look much better than what they were showing traditionally

Plus must be contributing a lot to that.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Some little interesting bits in there. When looking at YoY numbers. We see a steady decline in the sales of physical software along with a steady increase in digital & add-ons. Combined physical & digital & add-ons increased YoY for Q3. Basically we see growth in everything except for physical retail sales and hardware sales. I wonder just how relevant physical distribution will be over the course of the next generation? Will it be just a footnote by the end of it?

Network services also continues to grow despite it being the end of the generation while PSVR declines roughly inline with hardware sales declining.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shortbread]

hmm no PSVR sales figures

Wasn't the PSVR like something 5M sold at the end of 2019, per Sony's CES 2020 show?

 

[BRiT]

Did anyone expand on Network Services including the shutdown of PSVue and the auctioning off of advertising to the existing customer base and having a PS4 app? They also sold off other technology related to PSVue. Both auctions were won by Google for YTTV. The first was an email where Sony recommended PSVue users consider checking out YTTV and the second was to get YouTubeTV App on PS4.

 

[Shortbread]

PS5 price has yet to be determined, Sony suggests

“What is not very clear or visible is because we are competing in the space, so it’s very difficult to discuss anything about the price at this point of time, and depending upon the price level, we may have to determine the promotion that we are going to deploy and how much costs we are prepared to pay.

So it’s a question of balance,” Totoki continued, “and because it’s a balancing act it’s very difficult to say anything concrete at this point of time, but when I said smooth transition, we mean that we will definitely choose the optimal approach and that we will try to have the best balance so that we will be profitable in the life, during the life of this product.

 

[Karamazov]

I'm ready to buy digital games. I bought some this gen. But I'll never buy a digital game at full physical price.

 

[BRiT]

And there's the Jedi Balance references again...