PS5, Netflix, FIFA 23… the business news of the week

news business PS5, Netflix, FIFA 23… the business news of the week

Sony: a mixed record, 25 million PS5 sold

Sony one revealed contrasting results for the July-September 2022 quarter. PlayStation industry revenue rose 12% ($4.9 billion versus $4.4 billion a year earlier), setting a record for all manufacturers combined for a second fiscal quarter, but operating profit shows a sharp drop of 40% (285 million dollars versus 562 million dollars). As a result, the company has revised its targets downward and expects annual profit to be 1.5 billion dollars from 1.7 billion dollars previously.

Sony justifies the decline in profits with several factors : the increase in development costs of its games, taking into account expenses related to its acquisitions (including those of Bungie), the negative impact of exchange rates and the decrease in sales of games and additional content from third parties. Positive point: the decrease in losses related to console sales. In other words, the price increase for the PS5 that came into effect at the end of August made it possible to limit the break.

On the production side Sony shipped 3.3 million PS5s worldwide in the quarter, totaling 25 million since the console’s release. The company therefore has yet to pay out 12.3 million between October and March to reach its annual target of 18 million. There is reason for optimism: In addition, it is pointed out that there are restrictions in the supply of materials and logistics “significantly muted”

Another key element of this review: the decline in the number of PS Plus subscribers, which fell to 45.4 million at the end of September from 47.3 million at the end of June. According to Sony, this is largely due to the faster-than-expected drop in engagement from PS4 players. But the company can still be happy, since the turnover of its “Subscription” segment has increased significantly compared to the previous year (797 million dollars compared to 728 million dollars), which undoubtedly indicates that many subscribers are opting for the new Extra or Premium -Formulas have decided more expensive than the base.

Last point : PlayStation game sales are also down with 62.5 million games sold between July and September (including 6.7 million PlayStation Studios games), a period marked by the release of The Last of Us Part I, compared to 76.4 million a year earlier ( including 7.6 million PlayStation Studios games). However, Sony will be able to end the year in style with the release of God of War Ragnarok on November 9th. The company expects to achieve similar performance to the opus released in 2018, which now totals 23 million sales.

Electronic Arts on course for another record year

After Electronic Arts detailed its new partnership with Marvel, which sees the arrival of at least three action-adventure games on PC and consoles (including an Iron Man game), Electronic Arts this week revealed a bilan trimestrel rather shiny. The results were again very good, especially on the earnings side, with a net profit of EUR 302 million on sales of EUR 1.9 billion. 68% of this revenue comes from microtransactions (mainly in FIFA Ultimate Team and Apex Legends), DLC and other subscriptions (EA Play).. We also notice that EA derives most of its revenue from console games (1.1 billion dollars), then on the PC (423 million dollars) and mobile (320 million dollars).

The law firm could obviously rely on that FIFA 23, which got the best start in the franchise with 10.3 million players in one week. Without disclosing the exact number of copies sold, EA stated so Sales are up 10% over FIFA 22 after four weeks on the market. Player counts in FUT mode are also up 6% and that shouldn’t slow down anytime soon with the launch of Worlds mode on November 9th.

For the full year, EA expects sales of more than 7.5 billion dollars and net profit of at least 871 million dollars. Either way, these would be records for the company, which has reason to be optimistic given their release schedule. Need for Speed ​​Unbound will land on December 2, ahead of a busy first quarter of 2023 that will see back-to-back releases of Dead Space Remake (January 27), Wild Hearts (February 17), PGA Tour, Super Mega Baseball, and a title will appear from a “major franchise”. It could well be about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which is officially scheduled for 2023.

SEGA: results below expectations, but good prospects

SEGA has released its financial results for the fiscal year ended April-September 2022. A rather quiet period for the Japanese company, which has distributed 10 million games (compared to 14 million in the same semester last year) with new releases such as Two Point Campus and Soul Hackers 2 plus sales of installed franchises such as Yakuza, Total War, Sonic and Persona.

In those six months, SEGA made $72 million in operating profit thanks to sales of PC, console and mobile games. A much weaker result than in the same period last year (125 million dollars), but SEGA expects a much better second half that would allow it to reach 265 million dollars in profit for the full financial year (versus 230 million last year). ). The company can count on the releases of Sonic Frontiers, Football Manager 23, Company of Heroes 3, Like a Dragon: Ishin, ports of Persona 3, 4 and 5 or even Endless Dungeon. Quite a busy schedule, targeting a total of 34.2 million games over the fiscal year (up from 27.2 million a year earlier).

SEGA took the opportunity to update sales of its key franchises, which you can find in the list below. But note that the numbers are a bit outdated as they stop on March 31, 2022 and include free-to-play game downloadswhich explains the colossal numbers of the Sonic franchise.

• Sound: 1.5 billion
• Total War: 40.4 million
• Puyo Puyo: 37.7 million
• Football manager: 25 million
• Yakuza: 19.8 million
• Shin Megami Tensei: 19 million
• Virtua Fighter: 18.8 million
• Hatsune Miku: 18.5 million
• Person: 15.5 million
• Fantasy Star: 9.8 million

Netflix buys Spry Fox, its 6th in-house studio

The Netflix studio family continues to grow. After the launch of its video game offer, consisting of a catalog of titles playable on mobile phones and on subscription, The streaming giant successively acquired Night School Studio (Oxenfree), Boss Fight Entertainment (Dungeon Boss) and Next Games (Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales).. He also opened two of his own studios in Helsinki and California respectively.

A new acquisition was announced this week, that of Spry Fox. “Spry Fox is an award-winning indie studio specializing in original casual games. Their unique approach to video game design and the studio’s success with titles like Triple Town, Alphabear and Cozy Grove will help us accelerate our development-popular genre and expand the diversity of Netflix’s game catalog to cater to all tastes .”show the communique. The Seattle-based team is currently working on Cozy Grove 2 as well as a “non-violent MMO”.

A few weeks ago Netflix announced that it has 14 games in the pipeline in its internal studios and 55 in total, including partnerships such as the one with Ubisoft to exclusively develop a new Assassin’s Creed, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot 2 and Unknown Soldiers 2.

Briefly in the business news of the week

• NetEase has announced the opening of its Osaka, Japan-based studio GPTRACK50, led by Resident Evil producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who left Capcom last August.
• FIFA 23 (PS4 version) remains in week 42 (October 17-23) despite the entries of Mario + The Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2nd), Gotham Knights (3rd, PS5 version) and A Plague Top of physical sales in France Tale Requiem (4th, PS5 version).
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare II achieved the franchise’s biggest launch with $800 million generated in three days, dethroning Modern Warfare 3 (2011) and its 775 million in five days. It’s more common one of the biggest launches in history with that of GTA V, which had grossed $1 billion in three days In 2013.
• A Plague Tale: Requiem attracted 1 million players in one weekincluding those who tried it through Xbox Game Pass.