Sony: PS4 Shipments Were "Slightly Below Expectations" Due to Next-Gen Reveals

During Sony Corporation's financial conference call for investors and analysts, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki talked about the performance of the PlayStation business.

[IRetrouk]

Not bad at all, they dropped their full year estimates from 16 mill shipped to 15 mill.
Theres defo gonna be cross gen games between ps4 and 5, with the talk of a smooth transition I dont see them just dropping ps4 support.
I think they should slim down the pro, make it cheaper and use it as a base level console for those who cant afford a ps5 straight away, that way, nobody is left out of the newer games, atleast not completely.

[UltraNova]

Yep. As soon as the ps5 is released they should slash the price of the pro and OG ps4 at least 100-150 bucks and keep supporting them, thus ensuring a smooth transition to next gen.

[IRetrouk]

Yeah it's the best plan really, not that ps fans usually have to worry about support after a new gen, sony have always done it to be fair to them. I would like to see a slimmer pro though, I think they could get it a good bit smaller and cheaper by the time the ps5 hits.

[UltraNova]

Its almost a given(ps4 pro slim). I can also see a price drop this year around black Friday and making the reduced price permanent as soon as the pro slim is released somewhere around March 2020 to boost sales again until the ps5 is released in Nov 2020.

[IRetrouk]

That sounds like a sound plan to be fair, it would defo help keep the sales going and maybe even give em a boost, Nov is realistic for a ps5 release, would love it sooner but my head says your right.

[Ratchet75]

Considering the ps4 is still around €250 and sells between 150k and 200k weekly, I do not see why Sony would cut any prices.
Ps3 in july 2012 was at €199 and sold between 40k and 60k weekly.
When ps5 launch, ps4 will become the budget console but I don't think the price will drop dramatically.

[IRetrouk]

They will deffo do a sale on black friday, that goes without saying, nova is not talking about them dropping the price untill march next year, the ps5 is out that year, sales will slow, a price drop then would be ideal, whether they do it or not is to be seen, it may not even be a massive price drop, but it is a realistic shout.

[UltraNova]

Rachet,

Anything is possible. That said, consider the fact that in October we'll see MS testing xcloud and in Nov Google will be launching Stadia with what I believe one of the biggest PR campaigns seen in gaming. How will Sony keep the spotlight on their product? Death Stranding will not be enough. A substantial price drop though will turn heads their direction. Couple that with a boost in Q1 2020 (pro slim + reduced price) will go a long way to keep their momentum up.

[fr0sty]

I'd say "we didn't beat the fastest selling console in history to the 100 million sold mark even faster than we thought we would" is a pretty good problem to have.

[RpgSama]

"The 3.2 million units sold is up from the 2.6 million units of last quarter (Q4 FY2018) and identical to the 3.2 million earned in the same quarter last year."

Now put that against the 48% drop in sales YoY for Xbox that people were downplaying as "it's normal at the end of a generation for sales to drop dramatically"

[rainslacker]

Yeah...perfectly normal. Even though it's never actually happened before. Heck, it's not even normal a few months from a new generation launch, with a firm date known, for a current gen system to drop that much YOY. Usually the older gens keep selling for a while due to price drops. The PS3 was dropped earlier than normal, and never hit that super cheap price, and 360 was abandoned within a year of X1's launch, so they are a bit of an anomoly.

[PhoenixUp]

Then drop the price to $200 ya mofos

[Cmv38]

100 yes, 200.....eh....

[FallenAngel1984]

Hilarious how Sony says the shipments of their console in its sixth year are allegedly “below expectations” when you consider that in the first fiscal quarter of 2019

- PlayStation 4 shipped 3.2 million units
- Switch shipped 2.13 million units

Talk about flexing on the competition. Plus their console will likely be the only console that crossed the 100 million mark with the lowest MSRP being $300.

[Eonjay]

Playstation is in a different league than most of the competitor. But I have to say that it's just bonkers to below expectations absent any sort of price cut.

[badz149]

but Nintendo fanboys are like Switch won NPD and Japan 6 months in a row WOOHOO...

forgetting that the world is much more than just NA and Japan

[IRetrouk]

People used to cling to npd every month on here last gen like it was more important than worldwide numbers lol, good times

[FallenAngel1984]

@ Eon

Sony really should have a price cut by now if they cared so much about keeping PS4 from declining even more.

@ bad

Nintendo fans with all their NPD bragging don’t even want to acknowledge that PS4 has still been doing better in 2019 so far than Switch.

From Jan-March 2019 PS4 shipped 2.6 million units & Switch shipped 2.47 million units

Add that with the info that from April-June 2019 PS4 shipped 3.2 million units compared to Switch’s 2.13 million and you end up realizing PS4 shipped 5.8 million units while Switch shipped 4.6 million units so far this year.

That 1.2 million difference is proof everyone needs to always keep the worldwide market in mind. PS4 in its sixth year is still performing better than Switch in its third year which says a lot about the situation.

[adonisisfree]

We won’t see “true” next gen titles until maybe 2022/2023 due to parity between consoles. Can’t wait to see wait the ps5 can do when it’s unhinged

[Minute Man 721]

PS4 should be $149 - $199

[badz149]

$149 should be the price for the Switch Lite

[XiNatsuDragnel]

PS4 = 100-300 dollars would be even faster

[gamer7804]

pretty common for sales to dip during the end of a generation when there aren't quite as many games coming out and people waiting/saving for the next gen consoles.

[Eonjay]

Sales didn't dip though. It was the same YoY. Only Xbox dipped. They said it was normal to justify the 50% drop but now we see that its just Xbox. I mean if Sony is to be trusted with its projection than it will see a drop YoY of about 17%. That is normal not a massive 50% a whole year and a half before next gen.

[gamer7804]

I was referring to sales dipping below their expectations, they need to work on their forecasting a little bit since they didn't meet expectations.

[Elda]

It's time to slash those prices of both consoles & they'll see more sales,there are some very late adopters that are waiting just for that.

[Kaedro]

Maybe if they had a PS Experience in 2018 and an e3 conference in 2019 those expectations could have been met... Nevertheless, great numbers!