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[Dinjooh]

Oh look, a profit!

Lotsa bissnass talk.

I feel much smarter now. Thanks Zomqbbqftw!

 

[thekiddfran]

Oh look, a profit!

Forecast is still for a 50bn yen net loss though which either means they are playing it very safe or they are going to backload a bunch of restructuring costs like they have done for the last couple of years. It's probably the latter.

Even then it's a solid quarter, taking out the 19.6bn yen from the sale of property and their stake in Square Enix, it leaves an operating profit of almost $500m, which is actually a good result for them.

The TV division made money, but the annual sales forecast has decreased. Mobiles didn't make money but they say it is because of increased marketing expenditure, one would hope that it is not an unsustainable spend and it leads to a higher level of sales, it seems unlikely though given that the forecast has gone down from 50m to 43m...

Pictures actually made money without having to sell something off. Disappointing otherwise given they had a tentpole released during the quarter. $700m revenue for ASM2 isn't enough to justify a $350m production and marketing budget, the results show that no money was made for the BO release of ASM2, $70m profit for the quarter makes it very clear. Hopefully their rethink leads to them putting quality first for the series and they get in a new writing and production team. Avi Arad could turn Fort Knox into a pile of shit.

Digital imaging made a decent amount of money, it looks like Sony have overcome their addiction to cheap digital compacts and have successfully shifted the business into higher margin CSCs, premium compacts (RX) and professional and broadcast cameras.

Semi-conductors keeps on trucking, with an all new CapEx round announced. The curved sensors are really going to shake up the industry, let's see who gets them first after SDI.

Finally Game. The highlight of this little roundup. Made money early on in the PS4's lifecycle, helped, no doubt, by weak yen, but still it's a great performance. The OI figures include the network services division which is pretty much all losses so the game division alone probably made even more money. They even mention that the OI forecast has increased by 5bn yen because of a decrease in PS4 hardware cost. That PS4 model that was certified must include 8Gbit GDDR5 chips because there is no other major cost reduction that could improve the margins to that extent.

Group wise, the gross margin was static at 36%, this is still poor and their cost base is still way too high. Competing companies have gross margins closer to 60% so Sony need to put some serious work into reducing the build cost of their products while maintaining the quality, the still need to take a serious look at how Apple do business and copy it. Production-lite. They also need to reduce SG&A costs, too much money is spent employing people in Japan to push paper around. Abe must deliver employment reform if Japan is going to move into this century, their companies can't be hamstrung by legacy costs and not being able to move people on. AIUI Sony currently has around 8,000 people basically turning up for work and then doing nothing all day because Japanese employment law allows employees to choose whether or not they can be fired. That alone is a minimum 50bn yen operating cost per year for zero gain in the "all other" division.

They also paid off $2.3bn worth of debt this quarter and drained $3.6bn in cash. I think the poor credit ratings are starting to bite. Reducing their indebtedness is going to be a key part of Sony's business over the next couple of years. Most of the losses this year are paper losses so the business will still be generating cash and I think the board will have set aside a significant proportion to pay down debt. If Abe's economic plan works interest rates in Japan are going to rise from record lows which means corporate Japan is going to have to deleverage quite fast. This could be the start of Sony's deleveraging efforts. I can't think of any other reason they would drain $3.6bn from their cash reserves and use over half of that to pay down debt, usually Sony just issues new debt or uses their revolving facility with their syndicate.

Way to ruin the fun dude.

 

[DieH@rd]

They also need to reduce SG&A costs, too much money is spent employing people in Japan to push paper around. Abe must deliver employment reform if Japan is going to move into this century, their companies can't be hamstrung by legacy costs and not being able to move people on. AIUI Sony currently has around 8,000 people basically turning up for work and then doing nothing all day because Japanese employment law allows employees to choose whether or not they can be fired. That alone is a minimum 50bn yen operating cost per year for zero gain in the "all other" division.

Oh Japan...

 

[Wildarmsjecht]

.....what in the fuck oh my god I can't unsee this.

 

[FDC1]

Not that bad for Vita! PSP shipment numbers must be pretty much irrelevant at this point, no? Vita shipment number could very well be superior to X1 number, think about that.

 

[Widge]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's impossible, just highly unlikely.

Great numbers for Sony though.

To do it, they have to do what Sony did.

1) make XBL-Gold a significantly more compelling purchase than PSN+.
2) put a huge amount of effort into making unique content on a AAA and digital level outside of their core franchises.

The latter is the biggie as it carves out the X1 as a distinctive platform. Unfortunately, Microsoft's strategy over the past god knows how many years has been to reel in the third party games and establish as the technical platform of choice on these games. Which is great as long as your machine is technically superior. Without that, they have no draw any more.

I honestly believe it is hanging on in there on the strength of launch titles (which is something MS do really well, nobody can question their year one support on their hardware, its after that point is the issue), on the joypad, on the perception of Live being a superior multiplayer platform and on friends lists. Those things can gradually erode.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

That's true, not denying that, but it still seems a bit too much. I mean, ok, Europe (+ others) is usually the biggest market for Sony, but I can't think of any realistic scenario where the console sold around 1,700,000 just over there. Actually, I'd say something like 700,000 - 800,000 is reasonable because UK sales have dropped (it was still under a million LTD at the end of June...it's still under a million for now, so <470,000 in UK for H1 overall) while other places should have seen more stable sales due to shipments being available. In the case PS3 shipped 1 million, that would mean there are 900,000 - 1,000,000 PS4 on shelves around the world. In the case PS3 did even less, that would result in more PS4 on shelves.

The console does not need to sell all 1.7 million , i sure in Europe they were over a million in sales .
Then you add in every where else middle east etc etc and they still need to ship consoles to make sure stock on the shelf so everything works out .

 

[Zen]

How much did the 360 sell this quarter last year?

 

[Thunder Monkey]

At this rate Sony with the PS4 will have the second or third highest first year console sales.

I expect by Nov they have shipped/sold around 16 million PS4's. By next March they should have shipped/sold 21 million units.

To put it simply, Sony has this gen in the bag. I still question if they reach the highs of either the PS1 or PS3 (a range of nearly 20 million units) but they unquestionably are heading toward a lopsided victory.

 

[gofreak]

It's kind of eerie how similar this number is to some historical figures in previous gens at the same time, for past+present combined.

FY07 Q1: PS2+PS3 = 3.4m (0.7m PS3)

FY07 Q1: GC+Wii = 3.47m (3.43m Wii)

The split here for PS4 would obviously be much much better than for PS3, though not as high as for Wii.

 

[FDC1]

At this rate Sony with the PS4 will have the second or third highest first year console sales.

I expect by Nov they have shipped/sold around 16 million PS4's. By next March they should have shipped/sold 21 million units.

To put it simply, Sony has this gen in the bag. I still question if they reach the highs of either the PS1 or PS3 (a range of nearly 20 million units) but they unquestionably are heading toward a lopsided victory.

By November? No way. Definitively possible if you include December.

Edit: well, shipped, it's technically possible, it they "overship" in November in view of December.

 

[airmangataosenai]

Relatively speaking, the Vita number seems to be pretty good, it's hard to imagine the PSP number being very high. According to Media create, only a little north of 30k units were sold in the quarter in Japan which is historically it's strongest territory, so worldwide shipments are probably south of 100k. In other words, it beat the Wii U by a healthy margin, and possibly matched the XBO (Unlikely as it might be). Crazy times.

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

As expected, great home console numbers, bad portable ones.

Nintendo (1.43 million) + MS (1.1 million) < PS4.

This is pretty much what everyone needs to know about this quarter of sales.

 

[FDC1]

Relatively speaking, the Vita number seems to be pretty good, it's hard to imagine the PSP number being very high. According to Media create, only a little north of 30k units were sold in the quarter in Japan which is historically it's strongest territory, so worldwide shipments are probably south of 100k. In other words, it beat the Wii U by a healthy margin, and possibly matched the XBO (Unlikely as it might be). Crazy times.

I suppose at this point most of PSP sales are from remaining stocks, I doubt shipment number is even that big.

 

[DaSorcerer7]

I'm sorry but that .75m for vita/ps p does not ring true at all. Can any sales age gurus verify this?

 

[Thunder Monkey]

By November? No way. Definitively possible if you include December.

I expect quarterly shipments to spike heavily in the lead up to the holiday season. This next quarter will be similar. At right around 3 million PS4's shipped with the quarter after increasing to 3.5-4 million. Oct and November receiving the brunt. They'd be around 12.3-12.5 million after this next quarter. With (Oct,Nov,Dec) putting them around 15.8-16.3 million units. Oct and Nov would likely receive the brunt of that.

It's still fuzzy math until it happens but I think that's the trajectory.

 

[Boogalogist]

Wow, Sony back in the black. Quite amazing. Kaz really turned it around. Cautious going forward is right. They are not out of the woods yet.

 

[BigDug13]

I'm sorry but that .75m for vita/ps p does not ring true at all. Can any sales age gurus verify this?

Are you saying they're lying about shipped numbers in their quarterly report? Why would a sales age guru need to come in to refute Sony's business report? With what hard data?

 

[FDC1]

I'm sorry but that .75m for vita/ps p does not ring true at all. Can any sales age gurus verify this?

That's a shipment number. In itself it says nothing about sales. They theorically could have shipped 0.75M and sold 0.

 

[zeromcd73]

I'm sorry but that .75m for vita/ps p does not ring true at all. Can any sales age gurus verify this?

For Vita:
~ 217k Japan (Famitsu)
~ 74k US (NPD)

 

[onQ123]

It's kind of eerie how similar this number is to some historical figures in previous gens at the same time, for past+present combined.

FY07 Q1: PS2+PS3 = 3.4m (0.7m PS3)

FY07 Q1: GC+Wii = 3.47m (3.43m Wii)

The split here for PS4 would obviously be much much better than for PS3, though not as high as for Wii.

It's crazy how PS2 was in beast mode even after the Xbox 360 & PS3 was out. I don't think we will even see something like that again unless PS4 is $99 when Xbox Two & PS5 comes out.

 

[Xando]

Nice to see Sony returning to profit.

Gamescom 10mil announcement is pretty likely now isnt it?

 

[airmangataosenai]

I'm sorry but that .75m for vita/ps p does not ring true at all. Can any sales age gurus verify this?

Sony has access to markets that aren't really open to the other console players, in particular South America. Looking at the known sales from NPD/PAL/MC don't paint the full picture, over 12 million PS3s have been shipped to "Other" markets.

 

[EventHorizon]

To do it, they have to do what Sony did.

1) make XBL-Gold a significantly more compelling purchase than PSN+.
2) put a huge amount of effort into making unique content on a AAA and digital level outside of their core franchises.

1) Not sure what more they could do to Gold to make it a more compelling purchase than PSN+. I've suggested for a while now that they should thrown in a free year of Gold with the purchase of a console. Other than that, any more money they'd spend on Gold might be better off reducing the price of the base console.

2) Problem is that it takes 2-3 years to make a game. Any changes they make now won't show up for years. If things go as badly for the XB1 as I think they will, Microsoft will be looking to jump to a new gen in 3 years. Remember the 360 was released just 4 years after the original Xbox.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Or, as is more likely, they'll wait for Dark Souls 3.

What and miss out on Bloodborne made by Miyazaki and the original team. Thjankfully, a lot of people already know that DkS 2 was made by a different team.

I bet Bloodborne will see sales similar to previous souls games.

Dark Souls 2 isn't that bad. Come on now.



This is a possibility, but then how many of the Souls fan who only play Souls for how challenging it is know or care? I guess we'll find out early 2015

DkS 2 was a big disappointment.

Nintendo (1.33 million) + MS (1.1 million) < PS4.

(Fixed) Wow. PS4 is dominating.

Also I find this very weird:

3DS shipments : 0.82 million
PSV shipments : 0.75 million
WiiU shipments : 0.51 million

Did PSV just out ship WiiU and get close to 3DS......I don't understand.

 

[Averon]

Not all that surprised about mobile. The Z2 was hit with all kinds of delays. By the time it became widely available, Samsung and HTC already took most of the new customers looking to upgrade their phone this year.


The PS4 is doing fantastic. They will probably announce 10 million shipped (not sold to consumers) at Gamescom. The games division making a profit so early is very good news. It will only get better as the holiday approaches and the cost of producing the PS4 falls.

 

[thuway]

Xperia Z2 was all sorts of confusing when it hit the market. It was nigh impossible to get your hands on one in the short term. Reviewers were lukewarm but from a specs sense it stood above its peers.

 

[Nightengale]

Z2 was a fuckup of a launch that I'm surprised the loss was only that little.

 

[Mpl90]

3DS was undershipped compared to actual sales, while PSV was a bit overshipped. Heck, it's possible Vita + PSP outshipped One as well thanks to this and how One was undershipped this quarter as well.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

3DS was undershipped compared to actual sales, while PSV was a bit overshipped. Heck, it's possible Vita + PSP outshipped One as well thanks to this and how One was undershipped this quarter as well.

How is Sony affording PSV over shipments. Why are retailers even taking in over shipments of PSV lol

 

[Amir0x]

Damn @ Sony's PS4+PS3 shipment numbers compared to the competitors

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Ohh for fuck sakes. They just had to group them. Any way we can get ps4 numbers?

 

[driver116]

Good Q for Sony.

Game division posted 4.3B yen ($42m) opt profit.

Finance division doing fantastic as usual ($430 opt profit)

Company as whole posted $260m net profit.

So is this the turning point for Sony. Kaz living upto expectation?

 

[michaelius]

How is Sony affording PSV over shipments. Why are retailers even taking in over shipments of PSV lol

I'd take theory about Vita being overshipped with huge grain of salt - in america they were badly supply constrained in June.

 

[Apt101]

Combining gens to dwarf Microsoft's figures is my guess. I have a feeling the PS4 numbers alone would have done that.

 

[kenji_sama]

From a banned site:

An explanation was then provided for the struggling performance of the PS4 in Japan.
"As for what Japan is concerned, we don’t have a full line-up of software and that’s probably the largest challenge and issue."

At least they knew PS4's issues in Japan.

 

[FDC1]

Combining gens to dwarf Microsoft's figures is my guess. I have a feeling the PS4 numbers alone would have done that.

They do that every quarter....

Originally, they began to do that to cover bad Vita numbers

 

[Nikodemos]

I'd take theory about Vita being overshipped with huge grain of salt - in america they were badly supply constrained in June.

Yeah, I'm sceptical about the overshipment notion as well. Many GAFers were wondering about where all the Vitas had disappeared after Easter.

 

[driver116]

Combining gens to dwarf Microsoft's figures is my guess. I have a feeling the PS4 numbers alone would have done that.

They've done that for the last 5 years, if not longer.

 

[Ruud_Luiten]

Portables from Sony is almost same sales as portables from Nintendo?

Nintendo sold 800.000 3DSes right and SOny sold 750.000 PSP + PSV?!

Wow...

 

[Kosma]

Portables from Sony is almost same sales as portables from Nintendo?

Nintendo sold 800.000 3DSes right and SOny sold 750.000 PSP + PSV?!

Wow...

Naaaah, Sony shipped that. Nintendo sold it.

Lets not kid ourselves about Vita.

 

[Mpl90]

Naaaah, Sony shipped that. Nintendo sold it.

Lets not kid ourselves about Vita.

Actually, both are shipments, but Nintendo undershipped, while it's a good possibility Sony overshipped.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

From a banned site:

At least they knew PS4's issues in Japan.

They knew it a long time ago. Pretty much everyone is waiting for Japanese third parties to make their entrance to next gen: Japanese gamers, western gamers and Sony as well.

Naaaah, Sony shipped that. Nintendo sold it.

Lets not kid ourselves about Vita.

They are both shipments which is why its so crazy.

 

[driver116]

Over 3 to 1. Must be chaos at MS HQ

EA am cry

 

[Massa]

Actually, both are shipments, but Nintendo undershipped, while it's a good possibility Sony overshipped.

The Vita is still mostly out of stock in NA, I can't imagine there's a significant number of them sitting in stores shelves elsewhere.

 

[KimonoNoNo]

As someone who has followed the uprise, you gotta be smiling for Kaz Hirai at this point. It's not a complete turnaround but they are not bleeding money right now.

Next stop world domination.

(Any excuse to break out my shitty Kaz photoshop).

 

[Mario007]

Actually, both are shipments, but Nintendo undershipped, while it's a good possibility Sony overshipped.

How the fuck do you overship Vita? I'm pretty sure retailers aren't dumb as hell to overstock on the Vita.

 

[BigTnaples]

Hot damn.

 

[Amir0x]

How the fuck do you overship Vita? I'm pretty sure retailers aren't dumb as hell to overstock on the Vita.

yeah it is pretty bizarre to say the least. Vita is so dead if I were a retailer I'd hang up on Sony if they asked me to take any more lol

 

[ElTorro]