Sony "intends" and "needs to be" profitable over the next year
Sony's UK MD Fergal Gara has said even with PS4 not in mass manufacture yet, the firm is confident it will have "very significant stocks for the UK" leading up to its launch before Christmas, and that the firm will turn a profit this year. It has to.
Gara said Sony has to be profitable this year, and with the firm's and even with the console launching the US for $399 and in the UK at £349, the firm "intends" to make a profit over the next year.
"The balance of everything we do, whether that's the console, the software, the accessories or the digital business, it all needs to be profitable and we expect it to be profitable in the short term and the medium term," he said to GI International.
Gara also said the price was the console wasn't decided last minute as a dig at Microsoft and it's $499 Xbox One console. Pricing a piece of hardware isn't a spur of the moment thing after all. This backs up Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida's comments reported earlier today, when he said the firm had "always wanted to hit" the $399 price point.
"The reference point was PlayStation 3," he said. "It wasn't the competition because up until very late we had no idea what their price was going to be. Getting to a price point doesn't happen in the final days and weeks, it happens years in advance as you plan for a target price point alongside your engineering, design and architecture of the system.
"You have to hit that combination of price and performance in power. I'm delighted in the horsepower per pound that we've delivered, it genuinely is one very high powered machine. It's uncompromisingly built for one purpose above all other. Gaming, and performance around gaming, is front and centre. It's been a considered effort for seven years, not a knee jerk decision in the last days and weeks.
"Of course there was a little bit of play to the audience with the script and underlining the points of difference that we knew would be loved. We chose to do that, who wouldn't? It's a competitive market. We knew what our message was, we'd decided on that some time ago. There were some small adjustments and refinements going on closer to the time but the fact is the message we have has gone down very well."
As far as pricing games are concerned, Gara said it is still being looked into, but for now, premium games will continue to carry "a fairly premium price tag," but lot more in between should be expected as well.