The PlayStation 5's mid-generation console upgrade, the PS5 Slim, has done well market-wise since its release before the holidays of 2023. It appears that it isn't quite hitting its projected target sales, and this could have strong implications for Sony's game department going forward.

The PlayStation 5 Slim is selling well, but will likely not outperform the PS4

According to a report from GamesIndustry Japan, A seminar hosted by Toyo Securities on December 27th has been held to talk about the 2024 PS5 sales. The PlayStation 5 Slim dominates the charts, and based on its sales during the holiday season, is more desirable than the original hulking beast of a machine. The interesting dialogue, however, is the manner in which the projections for the PS5, set by former CEO Jim Ryan, were too high and Sony going forward should establish an environment where their numbers are more "realistic".

The reason the Sony Group's game business has become unbalanced is that it set a significantly high business plan for PS5 sales of 25 million units.

The idea behind it is that the PS5 is a great game console, and the reason it's underperforming the PS4 is because they couldn't make the necessary amount due to a lack of semiconductors. But reality is showing otherwise. The new PS5's sales are higher than the old model, but even with that, it doesn't seem to be able to produce results better than the PS4.

...However, strategic mistakes cannot be recovered by tactics, so the emphasis should shift to how to surpass PS6. And as I pointed out last month, the focus for PS6 will be whether or not it will maintain the sense of superiority that has been felt by a small number of users. As a result of the huge scale of the game business over the past 30 years, third parties operating on the PS platform are now faced with the challenge of how to recover the huge development costs exceeding tens of billions of yen.

Partial summary, the PlayStation 5 Slim is selling very well, but will likely not outperform the PS4. When it was revealed that, on top of this news, Sony's budget for exclusives like Horizon Forbidden West exceed $200 million dollars, it would make one think their resources and finances could be reallocated elsewhere. Console manufacturing puts a publishing/holdings company in the red, and strong software, which the PlayStation excels at producing, make up for that. The PS5 was developed with a lot of top-of-the-line chip sets and circuit boards, making it as cutting edge as possible. This may have been a production oversight.

Sony's hold as the video games market leader remains strong, but some smarter decisions would've proven to be prudent.

SOURCE: GamesIndustry Japan