PS4 Bets 40 Percent More Sales Than PS3 in First 4 Months
Sony is willing to bet that their PS4 sales will be 40 percent higher than they were for the PS3, which was a more expensive console to create and purchase.
Sony is priding itself on its ability to discover a model of efficiency that sees them make quicker returns on their money spent.
From the launch on Nov. 15 to March 31, they are anticipating the sales of 5 million PlayStation 4s. The PS3 sold 3.6 million units in that timeframe in the previous generation. Also this time around, the console will be released in Japan in February, which only gives them a month to contribute to the total.
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President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Andrew House told Reuters it took four years for the PS3 to be profitable, while they expect the PS4 to hit that much sooner.
He said specially made components for the console "enabled us to reduce the scale of investment significantly, massively so in comparison to the PS3."
Recently Sony said they were not concerned with the Xbox One's pre-order bundle specials because they feel their product is good enough that people will buy it on their own.
"Platform holders and publishers run pre-order campaigns, and if you need to increase momentum then they dial it up a little bit with some promotional stuff, it's a rational thing to do. But do we need to do that? No," SCEE President Jim Ryan said to MCV concerning Microsoft's European FIFA 2014 Xbox One bundle.
PlayStation 4 already has over a million pre-orders sold, and is currently marketing a GTA5/PS3 bundle, but nothing so far for the PS4.
"We have learnt a lot of lessons from last time around. There were a number of things we did on PS3 that we would not knowingly repeat. We sat and reflected and soul searched a lot. And we decided early on that we wanted to be single-minded in our pursuit of the gamer with PS4," said Ryan. "From the start, people have had a clear idea of what PS4 stands for and they can either take it or leave it, and it seems like lots of people want to take it. There's no ambiguity. There's no confusion. And it has helped us gain momentum ahead of launch."
