News Mash-Up - Week # 21

• • In the past week Jim Ryan, president of PlayStation, held an investor meeting. A 42-page pdf document was released which spelled out some of the PlayStation successes. Below are the highlights:

    • 2021 fiscal saw the highest PlayStation revenue at ¥2.7 trillion (over $21 billion), with the highest operating income of ¥346 billion (just under $3 billion) in its history.

    • 94% Monthly Average Usage (MAU) on the PS5 means that almost everyone who owns a PS5 has been using it at least once every month. 46% Gameplay MAU implies that almost half of those who have booted up their PS5 have used it for gaming (the rest presumably as a media centre).

    • Average spending per PS5 device has gone up significantly compared to the PS4 in the same time span since console release. Total spending up +15%, subscriptions +21% and add-ons by +247%. Only full game spending has seen a decline by -21%.

    • 80% of PS4 revenue was digital.

    • Over a quarter of PS4 revenue now comes from free-to-play games.

    • By fiscal 2025 the company projects 58% of revenue will come from add-ons.

    • Just over half of PlayStation game investment (55%) will focus on Live Service games. By fiscal 2025 it is expected there will be 12 Live Service franchises servicing the PlayStation platform.

    • Greater diversity of revenue for games. More films, TV shows and licensing is planned.

  • The Chinese social media app, TikTok, confirmed a Reuters report that mobile game testing has begun. A worldwide release will be expected once the testing is complete.

  • According to investor analyst, Dealreporter, in an article in Seeking Alpha, shareholders and people familiar with takeover discussions say the Ubisoft sale price would need to be at least €60 to €70 per share before a deal would be accepted. Today the share price is €48, and the market value of the company is worth €6.49 billion.

  • Sony also said it had a Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War and Gran Turismo TV projects being worked on. These 3 new TV projects will mark the latest in TV line ups already planned for The Last of Us and Twisted Metal. A Ghost of Tsushima movie adaptation is also planned.

  • Sony has announced that its upcoming PlayStation VR2 will have over 20 first-party and third-party games available at launch. No release date or price for the VR2 has been revealed yet.

  • According to Windows Central website, Microsoft has indefinitely delayed the projected release of the GamePass USB streaming device, codenamed Keystone.

  • 2022 Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 2 will release on the 28th of October. There will be no new COD game planned for 2023.
    
    
    

Week commencing Monday 30 May 2022