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INTERNATIONAL – The PlayStation 4 looks like the video game character that can not be defeated.
Five years after its debut, the $ 300 Sony console (R4,300) is experiencing one of the most powerful product cycles in the industry, thanks to a steady stream of popular game titles. This has allowed the Tokyo-based company to send twice as much PS4 as Microsoft Xbox One, even without relying on its usual tempo of price reductions.
This puts the franchise of Sony in a strong position to counter the next challenge of the consoles industry, worth $ 34.6 billion: the games delivered via the Web. After years of prediction that cloud games would make hardware (machines and disk games) obsolete, the technology seems finally ready.
Google's Project Stream project started this month by allowing US users to read the latest version of Assassin's Creed on a Chrome browser from any computer. Amazon.com, which has purchased the Tplay streaming streaming website and has the first cloud computing service, is well positioned to engage in cloud games.
"In the history of PlayStation, this will be the strongest vacation quarter ever," said Masaru Sugiyama, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "Until now, Microsoft was the only rival , but with Google and Amazon stand out. "
A woman tests a PlayStation VR headset at the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, near Tokyo, on Thursday, September 21, 2017. The Japanese video game industry is back, after years of slump, adapted titles for decades to technology redesigned. This energy was amply evident at the Tokyo Game Show, an annual event featuring video games. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)
Microsoft is not left out either. Beginning next year, the software manufacturer's xCloud project will use the company's global Azure cloud network to broadcast and play high-end games on "any device."
The first impressions of Google's project flow were favorable, users claiming that their experience is close to that of a console or a personal computer, without the need to own one.
For the moment, the domination of Sony on consoles – 84 million PS4 against 39 million for the Xbox One – is bearing fruit. Analysts believe that the company is on track to show operating profit of 790 billion yen ($ 7 billion) during the current fiscal year.
Last month's exclusive SP4 title, Spider-Man, which set sales records, will make the largest contribution to earnings growth when general manager Ken Yoshida releases his quarterly results on October 30, announced the analysts.
For the next vacation quarter, the PlayStation 4 has its strongest video game lineup in years. The domination of the PS4 on the Xbox One means that most players will buy and play successful titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on the Sony console. Even his virtual reality business gets a boost from critically acclaimed Astro Bot.
Game titles, which typically account for 80% of total industry revenue, are critical to the longevity of PS4. Sony has reduced the price of its flagship console by only 25% since 2013, compared to a reduction of at least 50% of previous consoles at the same time in their life cycle.
With more leeway to lower prices and increase the number of PS4 users, Sony is well positioned to boost profitability until 2021, according to Atul Goyal, an analyst at Jefferies.
The big question is whether the successor to the PS4 will be designed to integrate with games in the cloud, including handheld gaming, deeper into virtual and augmented reality, or into all of the above .
Sony has not yet set a date for what will probably be called the PlayStation 5.
Atsuhi Morita, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan, Sony's video game division, wears a PlayStation VR headset while he answers a question during an interview tuned to the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, near of Tokyo, Thursday, September 21, 2017. Culture is at the base of the visual storytelling that began with the comics manga, and then animation and movies, and now allows to incorporate an interactive element in Games. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)
Game experts and analysts agree that the next-generation console will probably be compatible with earlier versions, which means that users will be able to play PS4 games, and vice versa.
Bloomberg
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