Sony’s latest financial results show a 6.8% drop in income for games and network services, down by 3.6bn yen to 49.2 billion yen ($343m) from 52.8 billion yen ($368.2m) year on year.
The lower figures come despite a massive rise in sales in games and network services, increasing by 604.1bn yen to 771.9bn yen comparing FY 2022 with FY 2023.
The drop in income despite the massive rise of an extra 167.8bn yen in sales ($1bn) seems to be mainly attributable to the investment that Sony has been engaging with elsewhere.
This includes an extra $2bn for extended reality research as well as potential deals taking place elsewhere in the world. Overall Sony itself also saw 31% drop in overall operating income, by 11bn yen ($773m), indicating just how prominent the games aspect of their business is in their current standing.
Although the drop in income is significant, it’s notable that the increase in sales would be more than enough to make up for any shortfall in normal circumstances, so we can assume that Sony is looking to splash major cash to keep itself in competition. Sony has put its foot into the ring regarding the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and with virtually all blockers on the landmark acquisition by Microsoft now removed it’s unsurprising that investment in games is foremost in Sony’s mind.
Investment abroad?
We’ve seen rumours floating of Sony making major moves in the South Korean market, as the company is apparently in discussions with a number of developers including a couple of significant names like Com2Us (Behind the title Summoners’ War) that work primarily in mobile. We may be seeing a major push into other platforms, or even acquisitions in order to secure exclusive licences.
The company themselves forecast that there will be a continued increase in sales by their projections, but that income will remain flat. This suggests that the company is looking to make further scaled investments, trusting that sales will continue to grow steadily over time to make up for this.
Sony has also made major investments in some other oddities, such as Project Q, a Nintendo Switch-like device to allow PlayStation gamers to stream their titles across their home. Overall, although sales are high, and growing, Sony seems eager to take that money and put it towards long-term growth.
