14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has apparently already managed to cut the manufacturing costs of its PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, according to the latest internal data provided by the company.
The decrease in the manufacturing costs associated with the PS4 hardware increased Sony's projected operating income for its Games & Network Services division by 25 percent for the fiscal year 2015.
"Sales are expected to be higher than the May forecast primarily due to the strong performance of the PS4. Operating income is expected to be higher than the May forecast primarily due to PS4 hardware cost reductions," Sony reveals in its latest earnings report.
PlayStation 4 sales were reported to have surpassed the 7 million mark in April this year, but Sony has not provided any updates since then.
The latest information available from the company reveals that the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles sold a combined total of 3.5 million units during the April-June window this year, and the majority of those sales are expected to be of its next-gen hardware platform.
The reduced costs of the PS4 suggest that Sony might either reap the benefit of its improved profits in order to invest them in new developments such as Project Morpheus, or that the company could cut the price of the console at an earlier point in its life cycle in order to further capitalize on the advantage is has over its main competitor, the Xbox One.
The latest information from Microsoft reveals that the Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles only managed to shift 1.1 million units during the same April-June timeframe, putting Sony at a clear advantage.