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Sony Sees Best Black Friday Sales Ever According To Marketing VP
This year's Black Friday was a record breaker for Sony's console sales, as well as a strong defense for the state of consoles in today's gaming market.
In an interview with CNBC, Eric Lempel, vice president of marketing and head of PlayStation Network at Sony, says this year's Black Friday was the company's best to date, thanks in part to other offers which could be paired with console purchases. This year's deals included the PlayStation 4 Pro for $349.99 and the PS4 Slim model for $199.99, with a year-long subscription to PlayStation Plus for a discounted price of $39.99.
"We sold more consoles than we ever have in our 22-year history, and Plus is a natural addition to that purchase," Lempel says.
The news comes alongside Sony Corporate's announcement that the company's net income from its most recent quarter was up 342.9 percent compared to the same quarter from last year. According to Lempel, the majority of this increase was fueled by the PlayStation business.
Lempel was also asked about the current state of consoles compared to four years ago when mobile gaming was expected to phase out console gaming. Lempel pointed to these most recent sales and the release of mid-cycle console upgrades in the form of the PS4 Pro model as a sign of the console market's continued strength.
"We're having a phenomenal year," Lempel says. "As you've said, we've sold more consoles this year than ever before and the console business is doing great."
[Source: CNBC News]
Our Take
This announcement certainly makes a good case for the state of the console market, but until the quarterly sales figures are released in a few months, we won't have an exact total to tie to his claim. Regardless, console gaming doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.
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