Sony CFO on PS5 Marketing: “Wait for Sales to Make That Judgment”

Though Microsoft has received some flak over its recent Inside Xbox episode, there’s a generally positive buzz around the marketing of the Xbox Series X. By comparison, Sony has been releasing a slow trickle of information, from the logo to the opening animation of PlayStation Studios. The “deep dive” by lead system architect Mark Cerny in March was significant but wasn’t what some fans wanted.

Is Sony worried at all? Not really. After the company announced its Q4 FY19 financial results, questions were asked as part of the earnings call. Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki noted one investor’s question: “Some say PS5 promotion is falling behind Xbox. Would you give passing score to what PS team has done?

In response, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said, “We consider things strategically but doing our best. As for pass or fail, I would wait for PS5 sales to make that judgement.” This is a pretty fair assessment – for all the hype that the Xbox Series X has been generating, the PS4 is still much more successful than Microsoft’s own Xbox One. It hit 110.4 million worldwide shipments as of March 31st 2020 and there are still high-profile exclusives like The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima set to release in the coming months.

Of course, as always, we’ll need to wait for Sony to reveal the PlayStation 5 along with its launch titles and price before really jumping to any conclusions. The console is currently scheduled to release this Holiday season with Sony recently assuring that its first-party and partners’ studios have not run into major issues with development.

Q: some say PS5 promotion is falling behind Xbox. Would you give passing score to what PS team has done?
A: we consider things strategically but doing our best. As for pass or fail, I would wait for PS5 sales to make that judgement. (by CFO)https://t.co/nXnfljR8Fz

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) May 13, 2020