Sony confirms “no existing major franchise titles” will be released in next financial year
Sony has confirmed that “no existing major franchise titles” will be released in the next financial year for the PlayStation 5.
Speaking during a recent financial meeting, Sony senior vice president and chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki confirmed that the company would be lowering their sales target for the 2023-2024 financial year from 25million PlayStation 5 consoles sold to 21million (via VGC).
Totoki also said the company is expecting unit sales of the PlayStation 5 to “gradually decline” over the next 12 months because the console is “entering the latter half of the cycle”. The PS5 was first launched in 2020.
However, Totoki said another reason for the decline in sales is because “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.”
“Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality productions and producing live service games” he added, confirming that several “major projects are currently under development.”
Before the end of the current financial year, the PS5 is set to get the second installment in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set for release February 29 with a free demo available to play now, via the PS5 online store.
Sony is also still basking in the success of Helldivers 2. Released earlier this month, the sequel to the 2015 original quickly became the company’s biggest ever PC launch. It’s so popular, that developers Arrowhead have had to apologise for a number of issues caused by too many people trying to play.
In other news, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed Star Wars Outlaws will be released before the end of 2024 while Assassin’s Creed Codename Red should launch in the next financial year.
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Ali Shutler
NME
