Daily Briefing: Wednesday 28th April

Sony report on PlayStation's "best ever year"

Sony's most recent financial results confirmed that their gaming business had a record year of revenue and profit, with the PlayStation 5 outpacing the PlayStation 4 in terms of launch sales. Revenues were around $25bn, and profit around $3.2bn for the fiscal year.

• Sony also reported that 3.3m PS5 consoles were shipped last quarter, which means a combined 7.8m consoles shipped in the six months since launch. The PS4 managed 7.6m in the same timeframe, although it also launched in fewer territories than the PS5. Sony hope the PS5 will continue to outpace its predecessor well into its second year.

Microsoft's gaming business jumps, though console supply is still an issue

Microsoft also released their newest financial report, which confirmed a 50% jump in quarterly revenue for their gaming business. Total revenue was $3.5bn and was driven by a 34% increase in Xbox content and services, and a 232% increase in Xbox hardware revenue following the launch of the Xbox Series X|S.

• While Microsoft's new consoles have contributed greatly to increased hardware revenue - their launch month was actually a new company record- Microsoft also expect stock to be constrained at least through June. Xbox Game Pass now has 18m subscribers, up from 15m in September 2020, just to round out the numbers-fest.

Resident Evil Re:Verse will not launch alongside Village

Capcom have confirmed that the multiplayer will mode will not get a simultaneous release with Village on May 7th, and will instead launch sometime during the summer. The game had three beta tests this month which went over reasonably well, so the longer wait is a little disappointing.

• While this may seem like a rather last-minute delay, Capcom outlined that they never actually communicated when Re:Verse would be releasing. People just assumed it would be at the same time as Village which, considering it'll be free to owners of the mainline title, made a lot of sense.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles mysteriously returns to Xbox

The game was unceremoniously delisted from the Xbox 360 marketplace in October 2018, and the belief at the time was that Rockstar didn't want to renew the various music licenses used in it. It's now quietly been re-added to the store but we don't know why or for how long, so move quickly if you fancy it - it's backward compatible on Xbox Series X|S and everything.

• Rockstar have been having a weird time of it lately. They just put out surprise DLC-unlocking updates for both Max Payne and LA Noire, and a recent issue with Steam saw their entire library vanish and then reappear with Midnight Club 2 in tow. It was promptly pulled again but fans have been wondering whether it and LA's appearance means anything. Watch this space.