14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Sony working on the PlayStation 4 home console says that it will aim to sell as many of the devices as possible in the coming months and years in order to significantly grow the install base, which in turn can power an increase in the use of streaming and other network services for the company.
Kaz Hirai, the chief executive officer of the company, is quoted by Gamasutra as stating that he wants to aggressively pursue install base numbers, which means that Sony will do whatever it has to in order to make sure that the PS4 sells more, at each moment during its lifetime, than the PlayStation 3.
The company leader says that, “The biggest driver for our network business will be the PlayStation 4.”
Sony has recently announced mixed financial results and an initiative that will see it focus more on profit rather than sales volume for most of its divisions and the company also has plans to restructure its television business and to sell the entire PC division, which means that 5,000 jobs will be eliminated.
The PlayStation 4 and the services associated with it are protected from any such measures because the platform needs to become widespread across the world in order to be attractive to content providers.
Once the PS4 is established, Sony can make money from a number of services like Music Unlimited or Video Unlimited, which are already available, and from the upcoming PlayStation Now streaming tech.
Kaz Hirai adds, “The network is becoming increasingly important for our other businesses, too. Our TVs have video-on-demand and Music Unlimited. PlayStation Now will be launched on Bravia TVs next.”
A beta for the service is at the moment running on both the PS4 and the PS3 and reports are saying that the quality of the video games that are delivered is solid.
A full North American launch for the PlayStation Now service is planned for summer of this year, although an exact date and a price structure have not yet been offered.
Sony says that it also has plans to bring the concept to Europe, but that delays will happen because of problems linked to the network infrastructure in the region.
The PlayStation 4 has so far managed to deliver more than 7 million units to gamers since its November 2013 launch, while the rival Xbox One from Microsoft has only managed to move 5 million to stores.