Sony revises its 2012/2013 sales forecast

[Foxi4]

In its quarterly report, Sony Corp has once again cut the full-year sales forecast for their portables - the Vita and the PSP. The devices are expected to sell 10 million units rather than 12 million as predicted back in August till the end of the fiscal year in March 2013.

Sony also noted a decline in sales of their home consoles, the PS3 and PS2, however the company firmly sticks to its prediction of 16 million units sold till the end of the fiscal year.

Sony Corp suffered from a year-by-year decline in revenue, but there is a light at the end of this tunnel. If Sony's numbers are anything to go by, software sales have picked up from 40,2 million to 41,4 million - a modest, but noticable increase.

Sony has also posted a small operating profit in the July-September period, analysts suggest that it was inflated by the sale of various company assets, including its chemical business to the state-backed Development Bank of Japan. It would appear that the company has intentions to get rid of any sectors that are considered risky to make a rapid turn-around. Apparently the recent purchase of the Gaikai cloud gaming service back in July did not chip the company's wallet as much as one would expect. Analysts predict that if the company sticks to its current policies, a full-year profit of 107 billion Yen is within reach.

The holiday season is still slated to be Vita's chance to shine, and with titles like Assassin's Creed: Liberation, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Call of Duty: BlackOps - Declassified, it's understandable why the company thinks so. Whatever we may think of those particular games, these franchises have always sold well. The prepared bundles might also give the system the well-needed boost.

Source: Reuters #1, Reuters #2

Do you think that Sony's heading in the right direction, getting rid of the ballast of businesses that could be replaced by simply ordering given parts or chemicals rather than producing them themselves?

What would you like to see from Sony in the upcoming quarter? Any expectations for the holiday season?

Discuss!

 

[Daku93]

They are still selling the PS2?! Oh wow...

 

[KingVamp]

*snip*

Maybe they will announce just a few more games before Christmas.

 

[Qtis]

I think the company has a good record so far and really hope that they keep up with the good work. Now if they could just get their financing working.. Not that the gaming devision has the blame there (for most parts at least). What's really funny is that selling 10 million handhelds and 16 million home consoles doesn't make enough money to break it even IIRC from the financial records

 

[gamefan5]

*snip*

As for my expectation, idk. They better surprise their consumers because so far, Nintendo has played it right.
Does anyone know what Microsoft is also planning for the holidays to compare the big three?

 

[Foxi4]

*snip


Maybe they will announce just a few more games before Christmas.

*snip

As for the games, there really isn't much time right now to make announcements and no big convention they could use to reach out to the whole world, but they could benefit from a world-wide holiday campaign. Something everyone relates to.

The way I see it, they should make an ad with Santa delivering gifts to kids, suddenly noticing that one of the presents is a Vita. He starts playing on it, looks around with his shifty eyes and shoves something else down the chimney, hogging the Vita for himself. At the end, all they have to say is "Even saints can't resist temptation sometimes..." and BAM! - sales are made. They should be creative about it, but not creative in the direction the campaign is going in right now - that's just creepy. It gets my attention, but in the negative sense.

 

[chavosaur]

I expect some of their big titles such as LBP karting and PASBR to really put a jumpstart into sales, same with Cod And Assassins creed.
I most certainly agree with the bundles, bundles are an excellent way to sell systems. And not to mention im sure gamestop will have a deal or two out for the vita and ps3 as well.

 

[Gahars]

Hey, Foxi, your fanboyism is showing. Jeez, man, what is it with you?

I would definitely like to see Sony succeed. I may not use any of their machines now, but they make great gaming platforms (even the much maligned Vita is a great handheld that's just crying out for more support), and the competition is always good. If they were to leave the games industry, I think we'd all be poorer for it.

 

[emigre]

I expect some of their big titles such as LBP karting and PASBR to really put a jumpstart into sales, same with Cod And Assassins creed.
I most certainly agree with the bundles, bundles are an excellent way to sell systems. And not to mention im sure gamestop will have a deal or two out for the vita as well.

At work we're selling a 500GB PS3 ACIII bundle with ACIII (no shit sherlock), Fifa 13, Need for Speed:that new one/Medal of Honour: War fighter and that new Spiderman movie for £249.99. We're getting through that bundle like crazy and its a complete piece of piss to sell to people.

 

[KingVamp]

- that's just creepy. It gets my attention, but in the negative sense.

The two extra boobs on the back of the girl or this?

 

[Foxi4]

Hey, Foxi, your fanboyism is showing. Jeez, man, what is it with you?

Et tu, Gahars?

I would definitely like to see Sony succeed. I may not use any of their machines now, but they make great gaming platforms (even the much maligned Vita is a great handheld that's just crying out for more support), and the competition is always good. If they were to leave the games industry, I think we'd all be poorer for it.

Oh, definitely. There's no better reason for progress than a nemesis in the same industry - it really fires a rocket up your ass when you know that if you stop, someone's going to get one step ahead of you.

The two extra boobs in the back of the girl or this?

...both.

 

[Eerpow]

Assassin's Creed: Liberation, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Call of Duty: BlackOps - Declassified
And those titles are exactly the reason I'm not exactly looking forward to hearing about the Vita's Christmas sales.

People will just get the console versions since it's cheaper for them, bro gamers don't even know what a vita is and vita owners will stick to their home systems with the superior versions.
Parents won't buy them since they're M rated and none of these has enough appeal in the Japanese gaming market. The amount of dedicated Sony handheld fans is small and I don't see them buying these types of games really. Now a new RPG or some new Sony 1st 2nd party games is what really could've stirred up the masses.

What the Vita needed was a new batch of games similar to what it had at launch or soon thereafter.

Sorry for being so negative but they really aren't targeting the right gamers.

 

[Foxi4]

People will just get the console versions since it's cheaper for them, bro gamers don't even know what a vita is and vita owners will stick to their home systems with the superior versions.

Assassin's Creed: Liberation is not Assassin's Creed 3, Call of Duty: BlackOps - Declassified is not Call of Duty: BlackOps 2 - those games are entirely different. The only match I'm getting here is Most Wanted, which is a port of a rather old game that some gamers just might want to play on the go.

Parents won't buy them since they're M rated and none of these has enough appeal in the Japanese gaming market. The amount of dedicated Sony handheld fans is small and I don't see them buying these type of games really. Now a new RPG's or some new Sony 1st 2nd party games is what really could've stirred up the masses.

I don't think Sony aims at the Japanese market with those - Japan already got their Project Diva and it proved to be a successful release. These titles are aimed directly at the Western market.

Sorry for being so negative but they really aren't targeting the right gamers.

That's up to contest. Sure, mature gamers are in the minority compared to kids, but whenever I turn of CoD, I mostly hear kiddies, which sort of nullifies the whole age argument. Not a whole lot of parents pay attention to that, and M-Ratings don't exactly forbid a sale all around the world.

 

[Eerpow]

I know these games are different, I should have been clearer. (well I knew AC was anyway)
What I mean is that people don't know this, they don't see them as part of the series and more like spinoffs or watered down ports. Same thing with uncharted.
And when I say bro gamers I mean those who casually play big budget games only, like the new FIFA or CoD. Many of these bro gamers are kids which takes us to my first concern. They will just ignore it. I've heard people talk about AC3 but not a shit is given to the portable game sadly. Even if they are aware of it's existence.
The only consumer that M ratings scares off are parents. I'm not saying it prohibits kids to play them entirely.

The right target audience isn't only kids, it's handheld gamers like us too. The user base should be balanced and consist of all kinds of gamers. These games targets a huge user base of gamers but I don't think they're the type who plays handheld games. If they need to play something on the go they'll just play something on their smartphone.
This is why I'm saying the Vita needs similar games to what it got at launch. That's what appeals to people like me.
While the launch games are still available for purchase the amount of titles available doesn't justify the pricetag of the system for a lot of people. Ultimately, for the Vita to grow it needs the type of games that made the PSP what it is today.

 

[gamefan5]

Et tous, Gahars?

If it's french, what did you mean?

 

[Foxi4]

If it's french, what did you mean?

Actually, it was latin, but my brain did a derp and I wrote it wrong. Missed it entirely until you mentioned it... It's corrected now.

 

[gamefan5]

Actually, it was latin, but my brain did a derp and I wrote it wrong. Missed it entirely until you mentioned it... It's corrected now.

Ah... so you meant, Et toi? (And you?) XD Carry on then. XD

 

[Foxi4]

Ah... so you meant, Et toi? (You too) XD Carry on then. XD

In French it would be something along the lines of "Et toi (aussi), Gahars?", meaning "Und du (auch), Gahars?", meaning "And you (too), Gahars?", meaning "I ty (też), Gahars?".
...now that we have our multi-lingual issues out of the way...

 

[Gahars]

Great, another Sony thread got derailed.

Seriously, discussing a phrase across English, Latin, and French? This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[gamefan5]

In French it would be something along the lines of "Et toi (aussi), Gahars?", meaning "Und du (auch), Gahars?", meaning "And you (too), Gahars?", meaning "I ty (też), Gahars?".
...now that we have our multi-lingual issues out of the way...

Yes yes, considering french is my first language. XD
And LOL You seem to be fluent in lots others too. XD
I should make a topic about it. XD
Hahahah but now let's get back on topic.