Sony Senior VP: 'We Are Moving Away From a Hardware Centric Business' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 07 August 2025 / 21,131 Views
Sony Senior Vice President Sadahiko Hayakawa in a Q&A session with investors stated PlayStation is moving away from being a "hardware centric business" to more of a platform that focuses on community and increasing engagement.
"In the gaming business, we are moving away from a hardware centric business model more to a platform business that expands the community and increases engagement," said Hayakawa.
Sony in its latest earnings report announced it shipped 2.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles for the quarter ending June 30, 2025 for a lifetime shipment figure of 80.3 million units.
The PlayStation 5 is currently 2.1 million units behind the PlayStation 4 in terms of units shipped. The PS4 through the same amount of time shipped 82.4 million units.
Sony CFO Lin Tao at the same Q&A session did admit PlayStation's live service plans have not gone smoothly, but states progress is being made.
"For Q1 the live service ratio was about 40%, for the full year it’s a little less, probably between 20-30%," she stated. "So in terms of the transformation, it’s not entirely going smoothly, but from a longer-term perspective, if you look at the changes over five years you see that there’s definitely been a change.
"Of course, we recognise that there are still many issues, so we should learn the lessons from mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content where there’s less waste and it’s more smooth."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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And with that. Nintendo won the console war and not talking about Switch 2. They lasted longer than anyone being hardware focused. Esp funny when for years people thought Nintendo should go 3rd party like SEGA.
Seems a bad idea for the hardware company to not prioritise hardware. You don't see Nintendo not focusing on games do you? or MS not focusing on software?
The appeal of consoles is the base unit and ease of entry, if the appeal of that is gone then why bother even going into their economic infrastructure for your gaming? Stick to a company who makes consoles and games, ala Nintendo or a dedicated more powerful all purpose unit and steam, ala PC.
Good bye to their 30%.
I find it funny people keep throwing PC out there like there aren't 100m+ gamers who intentionally game on console because they prefer a console/TV experience.
There's no reason why ease of entry will be less than a custom built PC, even if hardware is sold at a profit. It's just economies of scale and designing hardware around a singular gaming purpose.
Nintendo is also currently not an alternative to Playstation for most games on the market.
Yes, am I'm one of them but I want Sony to care about the product they make and I buy. Offer me something that makes owning a console the best experience because honestly, if they just go the MS route of an update machine several hundred £s more with next to zero improvements to the gaming experience, I might as well spend a little more on a dedicated PC, rig it up to my TV and have the same experience, with cheaper games and without the online tax.
I don't want them to get complacent, we know what happens when they do.
Day 1 on PC baby!
It would be like a dream! All my gaming on PC!
I think It would be a big mistake for Playstation, but damn, this would be perfect for me, to concentrate ALL my gaming needs on PC.
PC gaming wins again without doing anything.
"More to a platform business that expands the community" emphasis on "platform" is quite a telling remark. One that we have definitely heard before from elsewhere lol.
Translation: we are copying Microsoft
Sounds like Sony is tiring of selling hardware at a loss...
They can't get rid of consoles and discs its way too soon. if sony gets rid of discs they need to improve their return policy for digital games.
Ive bought loads of digital games that were trash after buying.
And statements like these make sure I won't buy a PS6, because the company behind it dreams only of live service games, mobile, and PC revenue.
So this either is about live services, doing a Xbox, or both.
Doesn't mean they aren't still chasing live service games. We don't know what the new projects are for Bluepoint and Bend. But this sounds like Playstation going the Xbox route. Day one PS games on Steam in combination with free online sounds like a good way to decrease the amount of PS sold.
I've got a new video up discussing this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWs1F2HigQ
Sonys platform is PSN (123m users), so I think hardware is safe for as long as it remains the primary driver of PSN users/income.
There's a natural singularity with the current hardware model though, so you can't continually drive people to new devices that we see in typical generations. Developers especially are not in a position to take advantage of more generationally leaps, and equally it's becoming more expensive & less tangible to provide leaps in hardware too. Ideally you innovate with creativity but it's clear most Devs do not have the intention of creating bespoke software for a singular platform.
I think Sonys got one more meaningful generation in them with the PS6 before it becomes entirely incremental/optional updates.... unless some huge shift in game development/experiences through AI reinforced the need for bespoke new hardware. The rumours of the PS5/6 portable makes clear that Sony has no intention of leaving the current spec of hardware support for another decade.
This seems pretty telling...
Wonder if Sony will continue to subsidize hardware cost in the future or if the $700 console will be the norm moving forward?
Also wonder if this means more single player games will be headed to the XB and NS platforms
$700 may be a bit low.
Not sure why this was down voted. PS6 will likely (my opinion) be minimally subsidised at best.
Then I recommend people to build a rig. I bet Sony is done with subsidising hardware costs. I will always have the opinion that the majority of non-multi-platform games are the most polished.
Sony haters cunts are in full force here. Fooking no life bitches, jump off the cliff for the sake of humanity you inbred POS!!
Reading comprehension is a MFer
Is this how the console market dies?
Nope, Nintendo is doing fine.
I called it from the start and people called me mad. who is the mad one now.....
Probably sometime around the beginning.
lmao
At this point a pc handheld with a dock will be way higher value than the PS6. Good performance, Steam, couch experience, free online and mobility. If Sony doesn't subsidise hardware, there is little reason not to go to Steam instead, especially if you get to play PS games anyway.
Why are some members talking about Nintendon't? .There's no comparison, Switch 2 is a portable console, should not be compared with table consoles, they are not on the same league, and don't forget Nintendon't consoles are for children, it offers childish games only.
You mean games that appeal to everyone?
You sound like a teenager who finally gets to play M-rated games and are too mature for those baby Nintendo games.
Do you mean games like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc are appealing to anyone above 9 year old? It's the same as an adult playing with dolls.
When you become an adult, you will understand that most adults actually don't mind playing childish games if they are fun.
I'm from 1971 and played a lot of childish games back in 1989 with Gameboy, but these days I can't conceive a full grown man playing those toon like characters, we have enough aberrations on present games like the COD freaking skins.
You are "from" 1971? Who speaks like that? FYI I got my GB in 1989 and at the time there was no such thing as "toon" aesthetic in video games. You would know if you had ever stared at a game boy screen where the character from Gargoyle's Quest, Castlevania, and Metroid all had to be drawn with tiny sprites featuring less than a dozen pixels vertically - usually 8x8.
lol the only child here is you
Practically everyone on this website wants to believe Nintendo is the market leader dictating the gaming industry. Makes no sense because the primary platform for all third party development is the PS5 but Nintendo is extremely popular on this website.
I've never heard of the "Nintendont" company.
There's a lot of t-shirts with the logo "Nintendon't", it's just to make fun of the original Nintendo. It's like when I make fun with M$ when I say "Ex-Box".
It's a phase. You will grow out of it eventually. Everyone does.
Well thats a wrap, thx a lot is whas a fun ride(until ps5 fu ck it up)
Retro it is.
What did PS5 do?
You tell me, there is kinda nothing i want to play on it that this gen exclusive..
Thats what it did,it did nothing.
How could this happen? How could Xbox that was circling the drain and about to give in and give up sudden come out on top and win? "No, Nintendo wins because they lasted the longest in the hardware space," isn't true. That means that the evolving gaming space going where Microsoft brainwashed everyone into thinking, sour over their loss, that Nintendo is now behind the times and the evolution of gaming where Nintendo keeps everything locked behind a lock and key. You COULD see Nintendo in an even worse position. Nintendo didn't even fight WITH PlayStation of exclusivity to combat Microsoft. They just stayed out of it all which shows where that gets you.
I'm not happy about this at all, but I knew my loving for gaming was inevitably going to come to an end and I'd quit buying new consoles and games.
But, how twisted is it that Xbox that were failures, did everything wrong, lied to and deceived their customers to con them out of their money and was nearly dead after buying the biggest gaming influence just to keep it out of the hands of PlayStation and Nintendo to destroy them both and it almost killed them, came out on top. That's messed up and the gaming industry will suffer having its biggest influencer being the won who was the latest to the show, had zero developer trust and cultivated relationships, and the worst business models being the one to lead the industry.... Gamers are in trouble. Figures once Jim Ryan took over, PlayStation would no longer have a spine.
Is what it is, ya just catch up on your backlog, but Nintendo is now in big trouble. PlayStation and Nintendo shouldve worked closer together to topple Xbox but, Nintendo stayed in their corner and just accepted whatever games came their way rather than reminding Sony "hey, if we want Japan to be known as the world's leading authority on this kind of business, we need to plant our feet and remain firm. Exclusives are what we do, it gives us identity." But, Nintendo didn't do that and now, they're in trouble too. Gaming is dead, it's over, Microsoft somehow won
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/465283/switch-2-sets-record-with-over-5m-sold-in-1st-month-worldwide-hardware-estimates-for-june-2025/
That platform holder is in trouble?
