With the rise of digital services and digital game downloads, it’s obvious that most companies are moving towards a digital only future. PlayStation’s investment in online cloud gaming service PlayStation Now is a testament towards the company’s move from being a largely hardware based company to a service providing company.
According to Japanese analyst, Masako Kuwuhara the future of Sony lies in software and services. “The company’s strategy of focusing on strengthening its recurring revenue, such as network and subscription revenue supports the more cyclical aspects of the Game & Network Services segment and will contribute towards stabilizing earnings and cash flows over the medium and longer term,” he said in a statement.
I agree with Kuwuhara’s thoughts here. It does seem that Sony is slowly but surely moving towards a service based model. But does this mean there will be no PlayStation 5 in the future? Probably not. Sony simply won’t ditch their hardware business model over night. If anything it will take several years before the company moves towards a completely digital model unless they employ a tactic similar to Microsoft who have prioritized a service oriented platform with Windows 10 and Xbox One.
