Hirai: PS4 likely to be more profitable than PS2

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai predicts the PS4 could become more profitable than the PS2.

At a corporate strategy meeting this week, the Sony boss claimed that its latest game console could be more financially successful for the company than its ancestor.

“It is likely that PS4 will become the platform which exceeds the profits earned with PS2,” he told investors, according to Impress Watch (as translated by Eurogamer).

That’s a lofty goal, considering the PS2 sold approximately 155 million units worldwide over its 12-year lifespan, making it the best-selling home console of all-time.

However, fortunes have been strong for Sony’s latest console. PS4 has sold more than seven million units worldwide to date, and became the fastest-selling console in the UK when it launched.

At the strategy meeting, Hirai also highlighted the importance of both unit sales and PlayStation Network services – one of several new revenue streams that didn’t exist during the PS2’s golden years.

Sony as a business has been losing vast sheds of money in recent years, which has forced sweeping changes to all of its divisions, including the games arm.

The PlayStation maker lost $1.24 billion last year, and it has forecast a loss for the current finance year, ending in March 2015.