Sony said on Wednesday the success of the hit drama The Last Of Us from television network HBO is boosting sales of the game series on which it is based in a standout case of the group repurposing its popular franchises.
“We could see very clearly every time an episode of the show dropped that sales of the game increased very dramatically,” Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told an investor briefing.
The success of the show is a notable example of efforts by Sony to drive business across different business lines after its transformation from an electronics maker to entertainment giant spanning games, music and movies.
Sony has also brought The Last Of Us franchise, which depicts characters struggling for survival in a postapocalyptic US, to PC as part of a push to diversify beyond consoles.
“Already our PC business is a significant profit contributor,” Ryan said.
Sony expects PC revenue to hit $450m (R8.6bn) in this financial year compared with $80m (R1.5bn) two years earlier.
In consoles, supply chain snarls have eased with PlayStation 5 sales likely to catch up and exceed PlayStation 4 during the financial year. Meanwhile, investors are waiting for further detail on expansion into live service and mobile games.
While Sony's traditional strength is in single-player games, more than half of PlayStation investment this year will be in live-service games, which offer continuous updated play.
Innovation in cloud technology and artificial intelligence are widely expected to shake up the gaming industry, in which Sony has played a gatekeeping role.
“We have some fairly interesting and quite aggressive plans to accelerate our initiatives in the space of the cloud that will unfold over the course of the coming months,” Ryan said without providing details.
Reuters
‘Last Of Us’ drama success drives Sony gaming sales
Image: Supplied
Sony said on Wednesday the success of the hit drama The Last Of Us from television network HBO is boosting sales of the game series on which it is based in a standout case of the group repurposing its popular franchises.
“We could see very clearly every time an episode of the show dropped that sales of the game increased very dramatically,” Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told an investor briefing.
The success of the show is a notable example of efforts by Sony to drive business across different business lines after its transformation from an electronics maker to entertainment giant spanning games, music and movies.
Sony has also brought The Last Of Us franchise, which depicts characters struggling for survival in a postapocalyptic US, to PC as part of a push to diversify beyond consoles.
“Already our PC business is a significant profit contributor,” Ryan said.
Sony expects PC revenue to hit $450m (R8.6bn) in this financial year compared with $80m (R1.5bn) two years earlier.
In consoles, supply chain snarls have eased with PlayStation 5 sales likely to catch up and exceed PlayStation 4 during the financial year. Meanwhile, investors are waiting for further detail on expansion into live service and mobile games.
While Sony's traditional strength is in single-player games, more than half of PlayStation investment this year will be in live-service games, which offer continuous updated play.
Innovation in cloud technology and artificial intelligence are widely expected to shake up the gaming industry, in which Sony has played a gatekeeping role.
“We have some fairly interesting and quite aggressive plans to accelerate our initiatives in the space of the cloud that will unfold over the course of the coming months,” Ryan said without providing details.
Reuters
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