Sony CFO Addresses the Uprising Popularity of Smartphone Games and its Impact on Console Gaming Industry

Sony’s FY 2022 Earnings Announcement had shown how greatly the revenue of the company has increased. PlayStation 5 achieved the biggest first-quarter sales of any platform in history. While the console sales for Sony are at an all-time high, they have acknowledged an untapped gaming market.

This untapped market is none other than the smartphone gaming sector. Sony’s CFO Hiroki Totoki has shared his views on the increasing popularity of smartphone games and how they could compete with the console industry.

Hiroki Totoki on the increasing popularity of smartphone games

The FY 2022 Earnings Announcement presentation was presented by Hiroki Totoki (CFO), Naomi Matsuoka (Senior Vice-President), and Sadahiko Hayakawa (In Charge of Finance and HR). Totoki earlier revealed the revenue generated will be used to fuel first-party game development.

During the presentation, a person asked Sony executives about their views on the recent popularity of smartphone games. This question was asked in regard to Sony’s plan to expand further to other markets as the cost of making hardware for consoles is going up. It was pointed toward Totoki, stating, “With such a severe environment, is PS5 really popular? What is your take on that?” 

Totoki respected the market space smartphone games have while answering this question. He said a console would still be popular in the future, whether it may be PS5 or any handheld console. “Having some kind of hardware in hand is necessary. The computing power would be at hand or it could be in the cloud,” he said.

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He stressed the cloud gaming aspect in smartphones, stating that change could take place in the future.

Is Sony looking to enter the handheld console market?

Well, the future of cloud gaming would be incomplete without some client bringing these games to the players. He feels that as technologies evolve, hardware that is up-to-date will be required. “Providing that type of hardware would create value,” he concluded.

Totoki’s statements might foreshadow PlayStation‘s rumored portable console. The device codenamed the Q Lite, is in the testing phase right now. If this is true, it may release after the rumored detachable disk of PS5.

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