It’s no surprise that Sony is doing quite well. Earlier, we reported that the PS4 is closing in on 100 million units shipped, currently sitting at just over 96 million units. With that in mind, there were also reports on Sony’s 2018 financials. The company’s gaming division alone made a shocking amount of money.
According to Critical Hit, the company managed to rake in a profit of over $8 billion during its 2018 fiscal year, with the gaming division contributing $2.81 billion in profits alone. But probably the most impressive fact from this report is that Sony earned more profits in 2018 than the PS2 did during its entire lifetime. The total number of profit made by the PS2 was $2.22 billion, which was surpassed in only one fiscal year. The PlayStation brand also generated a staggering $21 billion in revenue during the company’s 2018 fiscal year, making it the company’s best financial year to date.
And what does Sony plan to do with all of this money? Well, according to Takashi Mochizuki of the Wall Street Journal, Sony plans to invest its profits into the development of the PS5, which might be coming out at the end of next year.
Back in 2013, during the release of the PS4, many speculated that it would flop and that console gaming was dead. But these numbers prove otherwise. It will be interesting to see if the PS5 can continue this momentum from a critical and commercial point of view, since the PS4 has set the bar so high.
Congratulations to Sony and their PlayStation division for its success. PS4 will likely reach 100 million units shipped soon, but it will probably not reach PS2’s numbers — which capped out at over 155 million units shipped. Either way, let’s hope this momentum keeps rolling into the PS5 and that it shares the same, if not better success.
[Source: Critical Hit]
