PS4: Sony Increases 5 Million Sales Forecast But Won’t Say by How Much; Plans to Boost Marketing

Giuseppe Nelva February 6, 2014 5:16 AM EST

During the earnings call for investors and analysts related to the third quarter of the fiscal year, Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai answered a question on whether the sales forecast for the PS4 before the end of March had increased from the former 5 million estimate announced by Andrew House at Tokyo Game Show. Incidentally the predictable question was asked by ACE Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda, with whom we’re quite familiar already.

Hirai mentioned that previously the combined forecast of sales between PS4 and PS4 was of 15 million units for the current fiscal year, with the PS4 selling five million of them. The combined forecast remains unchanged now, but the PS3 is selling less than predicted, implying that the forecast for the PS4 has been increased. Unfortunately Hirai declined to give a detailed breakdown.

Yasuda-san also asked if Sony could afford lowering its marketing budget for the PS4, since the console is doing so well, but Hirai-san mentioned that the marketing spend for the console won’t be cut despite the fact that it’s doing better than expected. He added that as a matter of fact it’s the right time to increase it in order to accelerate growth.

He finally explained that detailed plans for increasing sales of the three core electronics businesses (games, imaging and mobile) will be be discussed at a corporate strategy briefing after the announcement of the full year results in May.