The Japanese intend to reinforce services such as PlayStation Plus, which has achieved its highest peak of users so far.
There are only a few months left for PlayStation 5 to be released, but there are still many unknowns to unravel. Even so, Sony aims to ensure that the transition between one generation and the other is as smooth as possible. This has been evident during the shareholders meeting in which the company's financial results for the last quarter of the 2019-2020 fiscal year have been presented. Hiroki Totoki, chief financial officer of Sony, said that the intention is to make a sweet transition.
To achieve this, the Japanese will continue betting on services. PlayStation Plus has managed to beat its own record, since it already has 38 million subscribers. In percentage terms, it means that of all units sold, 36.6% use the service. According to Sony's expectations, these figures are expected to continue their upward path and allow the console change to be less abrupt than on other occasions.
Looking ahead to PlayStation 5, Sony plans to control costs, so they work on leveling production to have the right number of units during their first stages of life. Nothing has been said about the price, since the market is a competitive space and it is impossible to determine a figure at this time, according to the company. In addition, the price will influence the promotion campaign and its costs. Totoki has stressed that "smooth transition" also means that Sony will be responsible for optimizing the product to be as profitable as possible during its lifetime.
Backward compatibility returns
PlayStation 5 will be backward compatible with the titles of the previous generation, although it has not yet been explained how the process will be. It is not clear if it will happen as in Xbox One and Xbox Series X, that all titles work in the new console and incorporate improvements. For now, the Japanese remain silent, waiting to find the right moment to communicate everything they have in their hands. For the second consecutive year, Sony has decided not to go to E3 in Los Angeles. Instead, he will organize his own events in order to show the benefits of his console.
The presentation of the results has also served to determine that its current machine, PlayStation 4, has sold at a slower pace than other years, something quite understandable considering that the product is in its final life cycle. Despite this, the console has already sold 102.8 million units, that is, more than the first PlayStation and Nintendo Wii ever sold.
