Icon: enlarge
Playstation 5 on display at Sony headquarters in Tokyo: demand is still high
Photo: KIMIMASA MAYAMA / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Will the Playstation 5 soon be available from retailers for longer than just a few minutes?
This is the question many game fans ask themselves, some of whom have been trying for weeks or months to get hold of a copy of the next-gen game console online.
The Playstation 5 was already one of the most difficult gifts to get at Christmas, and the situation on the market has hardly improved since then - which is partly due to the influence of resellers (read more here).
Sony itself would like to offer more consoles, but the company is likely to report the launch of the new console as a success despite fan frustration.
Because Sony is still getting through the corona crisis well thanks to its Playstation division, as new business figures show.
At the same time, the Japanese electronics giant benefited in the past quarter from the demand for more expensive televisions - and in the Hollywood studios, TV productions helped over the cinema doldrums.
The Playstation 5, which was officially released in November, sold 4.5 million times at the end of last year, according to Sony.
At the same time, game sales and online services for the Playstation increased.
The division increased sales by 40 percent to around seven billion euros and operating profit by 50 percent to around 633 million euros.
Sony is not making a profit with the console itself
For Sony these are pleasing figures, even if the company pays extra when selling the Playstation 5: According to the company, for strategic reasons, the price was set so that it is below the manufacturing costs of the hardware.
The device is of course still worthwhile for Sony: due to the follow-up costs for game purchases or online subscriptions, which hardly any Playstation owner can avoid.
Console sales will probably be slowed down for a long time by a lack of chips on the world markets.
"It is difficult for us to increase the production of the Playstation 5 in view of the shortage of semiconductors and other components," said Sony's CFO Hiroki Totoki (read here why the semiconductor shortage is a problem for various industries).
When German retailers can expect Playstation 5 contingents again in the near future, based on rumors and inside information, one can only guess - the “GamesWirtschaft” portal is a good first point of contact.
More profit thanks to expensive televisions
Overall, Sony's sales rose in the Christmas quarter by nine percent to almost 21.3 billion euros.
In terms of profit, there was a jump from 62 percent to almost three billion euros.
After the strong performance, Sony raised its forecasts for the fiscal year that will run until the end of March.
In the business with films and TV programs, the company made less revenue given the closed cinemas.
But this also eliminated the marketing costs for theatrical releases.
And in the pandemic, license revenues in the TV business and home video sales rose.
As a result, the division's operating profit rose to around 176 million euros, although sales dropped by almost a fifth.
The electronics sector also benefited from the sale of more expensive televisions and cameras, while the number of units fell.
Sony had geared the offer to premium devices.
The division increased its operating profit by almost a third to around 838 million euros, while sales remained unchanged.
Sales of Sony smartphones, which had been ailing for years, continued to decline.
The business with camera sensors for smartphones from other providers, which has become a mainstay for Sony in recent years, was meanwhile slow.
Sony sold fewer sensors at lower unit prices.
The company expects an improvement.
Icon: The mirror
mbö / dpa
