Sony to Focus on PS5 Engagement, First-Party Showing Greater Financial Discipline

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Recently, Sony has experienced a succession of leadership shifts. Specifically, Hideaki Nishino, known for his work in hardware, has been appointed as the new CEO of PlayStation. Meanwhile, Hiroki Totoki, who was serving temporarily, now holds the top position at Sony as a whole within Japan.

Previously with SIE, Lin Tao has now been appointed as the Chief Financial Officer and seated at the leadership table. In her inaugural earnings discussion since taking on this new position, she openly addressed alterations that have occurred within the company following the recent management reorganization.

Previously, our gaming division concentrated on selling individual units, but now our focus has shifted towards monitoring Monthly Active Users (MAUs). Our main goal is to enhance user engagement and this shift is driving us towards profitability.

For several years now, Sony has been witnessing a steady increase in its Monthly Active Users (MAU), with an increasing number of individuals playing on PlayStation than previously observed. Over the holiday season, the user base reached an astounding 129 million gamers, though it dipped slightly to 124 million during the latest quarter. However, even with this slight decrease, the figure still shows year-on-year growth.

Instead of just a single purchase, gaming has evolved into a continuous investment, with games such as Fortnite, Roblox, and Genshin Impact designed to encourage ongoing spending. Sony’s earnings from microtransactions are at an all-time high, and their approach is straightforward: the more players there are, the more money they make through these transactions.

Engagement with customers not only enables them to sign up for more expensive PS Plus subscriptions, game controllers, and additional accessories, but rather, providing consoles for home use is merely the starting point of a continuous relationship with each customer.

Tao expressed some confusion regarding the company’s plans for boosting Monthly Active Users (MAU) in the future. However, she highlighted that the user base of the PS5 will expand significantly, as a large portion of these new users will be joining the ecosystem for the first time. Moreover, she mentioned that unlike previous generations, a considerable number of consumers have chosen to stay with the PS4, which in turn increases the active user count.

Likely, transferring games to PC and also producing films and TV series that boost recognition of PlayStation’s brands can contribute to achieving their goals as well.

To add to the recent updates, Tao mentioned that Sony has been managing its expenditures on first-party productions more effectively. This is an area they aim to further enhance in the future.

Previously, challenges arose within first-party studios, and for a time, Totoki-san served as CEO, advocating for structural changes. Although financial control is now more stringent compared to a few years back, there’s still room for improvement. In essence, I believe the overall mindset has undergone a substantial shift.

Absolutely, these circumstances are propelling Sony’s PlayStation division to unprecedented earnings. Regardless of your opinions about the PS5 at this moment, it’s clear that their approach is successful since they’re generating revenue beyond anything they’ve seen before in their existence.

As we know with these kinds of companies, though, the pursuit of growth never ends.

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2025-05-16 13:06