Sony Interactive Entertainment will not release “any new major existing franchise titles” before March 31, 2025

Sony Interactive Entertainment does not plan to release “any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year,” which begins on April 1, 2023 and ends on March 31, 2025, the company said during its fiscal year 2023 Q3 earnings briefing.

“Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service games,” Sony Group president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said. “But while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”

It should be noted that while “major existing franchise titles” includes intellectual property such as God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man, it does not include new intellectual property like Concord or non-major existing franchise titles like Until Dawn.

Totoki continued, “Although the burden of acquisition related costs will ease next fiscal year, we expect profit from first-party software to decrease slightly from this fiscal year due to the impact of the decrease in sales. Due to this, operating income for the next fiscal year is currently expected to increase slightly from this fiscal year. However, while this our baseline, we are reviewing measures for further improvement in profitability in advance of the annual forecast results announcement this May.”

Totoki also discussed the company’s future outlook for PlayStation 5 hardware sales during the next fiscal year.

“When it comes to PlayStation 5, one challenge that sets this console cycle apart from PlayStation 4 and previous generations is that we find it difficult to reduce our costs during the course of the cycle,” Totoki said. “Unlike high-spec PCs, PlayStation consoles enable us to offer an immersive experience for many people in a safe environment with affordable price. To offer that kind of experience, with costs for components like chips and memory on the rise, one key will be that we continue to sell consoles without substantial discounts [during the course of its product life-cycle] by engaging in product planning that ensures affordability for consumers. Another driver will be first-party titles. Strong titles that achieve growth on PlayStation 5 , PCs and other platforms will widen our margins. We believe that we have opportunities for margin improvement and intend to pursue them aggressively.”

Here is the PlayStation 5 outlook for the next fiscal year, compared to the current fiscal year (ends March 31, 2024):

Finally, Totoki discussed his role as chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment, which he assumed in October 2023, and his visits to its internal studios.

“Through my meetings with the management team and visits to studios, I have the impression that everyone has a solid understanding of what optimization means when it comes to their individual fields of responsibility,” Totoki said. “However, they don’t necessarily understand how their respective efforts tie into overall growth, sustainable profit generation, and higher margins. I believe that is an issue for the organization. By providing everyone involved with highly transparent description of the company and industry conditions, as well as of analyst views, I would like to encourage them to come to their own realizations. This will get everyone in the business onto the same page. Then, I would like them to consider what we need to do to work toward our major objectives.

“I visited the Bungie studios and had meetings with [the] management, and I saw that employees working at the studios were highly motivated, showing great creativity as well as an impressive knowledge of live services. However, I also felt that there was room for improvement from a business perspective with regard to areas such as the use of business expenses and assuming accountability for development timelines. I hope to continue the dialogue and come up with some good solutions.”

Update 02/20/24: Updated quotes with official translations.