With PlayStation 5 Launch, Sony Needs A High Score

Tokyo, Nov 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Nov, 2020 ) :Sony launches its PlayStation 5 console next week angling for a mega-hit, and with the Japanese firm increasingly dependent on the lucrative gaming sector there is little room for error.

The PlayStation 5 will enter a head-to-head battle with rival Microsoft's new Xbox, released two days earlier, with both hoping to capture the market in the run-up to Christmas.

But the showdown has significantly higher stakes for Sony.

Since the PS1 launched in 1994, gaming has become the biggest segment of Sony's business, generating the lion's share of profit and about a third of sales -- more than electronics products or music.

By comparison, gaming made up less than 10 percent of Microsoft's sales for the year ending in June 2020.

Sony sold twice as many PS4s as microsoft did Xbox Ones, and analysts say it has learned lessons from the disappointing roll-out of the PS3.

"We have seen in previous generations that at launch there are two major factors that will impact a generation's success -- the first to launch and the cheapest," said Morris Garrard, an analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

He cited the "relative failure" of the PS3, which went on sale a year after the Xbox 360 and at a higher price.

The PS5 is priced at $500, like the Xbox Series X, while a version without a disk reader costs $400.

That's more than the $300 price tag for Microsoft's less powerful Xbox Series S, which also has no disk reader.

Sony's margin on the consoles will be slim -- possibly even loss-making -- analysts say, and the firm is counting on sales of games, services and online subscriptions to turn a profit.