Sony has noticed excellent momentum for its PlayStation 5 system, according to a top official in the gaming industry. The business has had its best-ever Black Friday weekend sales for the gadget, and lifetime sales have surpassed 50 million units.
The entertainment company hopes the PS5, which has been out in the market for four years, will do well during the Christmas shopping season so that it can meet its sales goal of a record 25 million units in the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2024.
Eric Lempel, Sony Interactive Entertainment's senior vice president for global marketing, sales, and business operations, told Reuters: "Given the momentum we've had in November and a lot of what we're seeing in December, just in general we're feeling very good about sales overall."
Last fiscal year, Sony's games division accounted for the majority of the company's sales and contributed significantly to operational profit, second only to music in terms of revenue.
Earlier Challenge
The announcement in August by management that sales of the PS5 had been lower than anticipated caused investors to feel uneasy. In an effort to find a happy medium between sales volume and profitability, Sony has said that its 25 million unit objective is an ambitious one that will be difficult to achieve.
"We've done some good promotions this year. I will say we've done fewer promotions at this stage of the lifecycle than we ever have in the history of the company," according to Lempel, who made this statement during an interview.
Snarls in the supply chain early in the PS5's existence were a factor that held down sales. Those issues have diminished, and the PS5 is currently enjoying favorable conditions, such as the release of the highly renowned video game Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on October 20.
Famous for its single-player games, the Japanese firm is branching out into live-service titles, which provide players with constant access to online gameplay.
Following concerns that its release would have hindered the development of single-player games, Sony's Naughty Dog said last week that it had scrapped an online game from its The Last of Us franchise.
See Also: Sony's PlayStation 5 Slim Will Retain Expandable Storage Feature While Coming With More Memory
Ramping up Sales
New developments in cloud computing hold the potential of console-free gaming, prompting the business to ramp up sales at a time when the industry is debating the consoles' long-term viability.
Consoles continue to attract gamers for the time being, with Nintendo's aging Switch receiving a lift this year from the launch of titles such as its most recent Zelda release. Among the PlayStation upcoming releases are The Last of Us Part II Remastered set to launch in January 2024, and the limited-time exclusive Final Fantasy VII Rebirth set to launch in February 2024.
"We are still pushing really hard and I think we will have a record-breaking year no matter where we end up," added Lempel.
See Also: Sony's Profit Takes Hit in Sluggish Chip Market, Yet Maintains Ambitious 25 Million PS5 Sales Target
