Sony Promises to Significantly Ramp Up PS5 Production
PlayStation makers announce a 56% increase in PS5 production in their fiscal year summary. They're not worried about the decline in PS Plus subscribers.
Sony has summarized fiscal year 2021. From the official statement, we learn that the Japanese giant was unable to achieve the planned sales of PlayStation 5, and the number of subscribers and active users of PlayStation Plus has dropped. Despite this, company representatives say that they have no reason to worry and are hoping for a solid rebound in fiscal year 2022.
PS5: expectations vs reality
PS5 sales in fiscal year 2021 (the period from April 2021 to March 2022) reached a ceiling of 11.5 million units. This was below expectations (by comparison, the PS4 achieved sales of 14.8 million units in its second year). Sony claims that the reason was shortages in hardware components.
Despite the failure, Sony optimistically assumes that in the current fiscal year (ending March 2023) PlayStation 5 sales will increase by as much as 56%. This would mean achieving a result of about 18 million units. In addition, the company also assumes an increase in game sales of 34% over last year's result.
"We are confident that we can get the components for 18 million units in fiscal year 2022, and we feel that the demand is even higher, so even if we reach our target, we can still talk about shortages," commented Hiroki Totoki, Sony's chief financial officer.
Sony says that the demand for PS5 is not diminishing, and sales will only depend on how many consoles can be produced.
PlayStation Plus is losing subscribers, but Sony isn't worried
The fiscal year 2021 summary also touched on PlayStation Plus, whose popularity has declined in recent months.
47.4 million players have subscribed to the service in March this year, a decrease of about 600,000 from the previous quarter. This is only the second time in the eight years of the service's existence that the number of users has dropped. The number of active players decreased by 5 million from the previous quarter and by 3 million compared to last year.
Company officials publicly addressed this issue, stating that they see no reason for concern. Moreover, they assume that the announced revitalization of the project will improve the deteriorating situation.
"We're starting the process of refreshing PS Plus subscriptions in June, and we're hoping it will be supported by users. I would like everyone to share positive expectations with me," announced Hiroki Totoki
The last fiscal year showed Sony no mercy. For one of the most important players in the console arena, visible declines are very dangerous. Will the company actually bounce back or is this just the beginning of the end? Time will tell.
