Sony Shares Rise on Report Profit to Exceed Estimates (Update3)
By Masaki Kondo and Yoshinori Eki
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Sony Corp., the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, rose to a two-month high after the Nikkei reported operating profit this fiscal year will beat analysts' estimates on Bravia television sales.
The stock gained 2.7 percent to 6,510 yen at the close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, after rising to a five-year high. Operating profit for the year ending March 31, 2008, will probably reach 400 billion yen ($3.4 billion), exceeding estimates for 350 billion yen, the newspaper said today, without saying where it obtained the information.
''The Nikkei numbers are just estimates and we can't comment on it,'' said Mami Imada, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Sony. Sony is scheduled to report fiscal 2006 earnings on May 16. The company in January said it expected operating profit to gain 20 percent to 60 billion yen.
Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer targets an operating profit margin of 5 percent by March 2008, about double the current margin. Tokyo-based Sony confirmed today that it will only sell a more expensive version of its PlayStation 3 game console in North America, a strategy it adopted for the European market to bolster margins.
''Profit margin will probably exceed 5 percent if Sony doesn't lower the price of PlayStation 3,'' Hitoshi Kuriyama, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. wrote in a report dated yesterday. He rates the stock a ''buy.''
Shares of Sony gained 28 percent this year, compared with a 0.8 percent advance in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
Sony will stop selling the 20-gigabyte PlayStation 3 model in North America, and will only offer the 60-gigabyte version, said Satoshi Fukuoka, a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman in Tokyo, confirming a separate Nikkei report.
'Consumer Needs'
''It's in line with our strategy as we had planed to choose models based on consumer needs,'' Fukuoka said. The larger model, which retails for $599 in the U.S. and is $100 more expensive than the smaller version, accounts for about 90 percent of sales, he said.
The company is also considering introducing the model with a bigger hard disk, Fukuoka said, without providing details.
Sony also denied a Nikkei report that it aims to ship 10 million PlayStation 3 units in the year to March 2008, a 66 percent increase from the projected 6 million units for the fiscal year just ended.
With so many games fighting for players' attention and interest losing out over time, time sink games are at risk of eventually losing steam.
It was worrisome to begin with.
It's a niche genre with only a handful of hits that can stand the test of time.
Only a few will catch on. You need a perfect storm to be successful in GaaS and a bit of luck on top of that. But a potential cash cow will keep them trying and some will go out of business because of it.
Helldivers 2 manages just fine…
Keep production costs low… don’t just make custscenes until the mechanics and enemies are perfected first.
Make so much content that you can drip extra content for years, and the game already feels complete without them.
Most importantly: make weapons, enemies, levels, and mechanics that will stand the test of 1000 hours. This might require more devs embracing procedurally generated leveled, which I think separates Helldivers 2 from Destiny’s repetitiveness.
Nameer from eXputer: "Some exceptions aside, I don't think the battle pass is a net positive for gaming with how they're implemented in most live service titles."
I like the way Helldivers 2 does battle passes. It allows you to make purchases on each level of the battle pass and gives you the option of choosing which item to unlock first. The more purchases you make using medals the further you progress. There is no timer and you can earn medals towards purchasing stuff via personal orders and Major orders.
I haven't played much live service games that have battle passes but I remember some games that have battle passes where you progress through it linearly using an exp system. What makes it really bad is that the battle pass will have like 50 or more levels with the cooler stuff being closer to the end. They also have an in-game shop that sells exp boosters so you can reach the end of the pass before it refreshes. Everyone ilse will have to grind their way through.
battle pass in fortnite is perfect; buy one and it buys the rest for every other season as it gives you more money than the first cost. so 8.50 and season ends with you getting 13.00, it pays for the next and you have some pocket change to save up for cash shop. All of which is optional
Sony is taking actions as video by Moore’s Law is Dead, has been issued with a copyright claim.
And people say it's all fake because Sony haven't said anything 😂 conveniently forget the PS4 Pro was only announced 2 months before release.
Just announce it already! I want to preorder one asap. But in reality they don’t want to lessen PS5 sales until Pro is ready to launch so I understand the business part of it. September is probably when they announce it with an early November launch like the PS4 Pro
I would take that video and upload a torrent of it, fuck that copyright bullshit. If your going to do something that has a chance of being taken down, make a torrent first share it. Then Sony or any other company is helpless and you can laugh in their faces, taunting them to try to take it down 🤣
As much as the PS4 Pro didn't represent a major % in the playerbase, announcing a 'better' model will hinder sales from the 'base' model. They are right, business-wise.