Sony's PS4 Plan Includes Courting Casual Gamers, Enhancing System Features

Part of Sony's plan to grow the PlayStation business includes courting casual gamers and enhancing PlayStation 4 features overall, the company said on Wednesday as part of its annual Investor Relations Day.

Investor Relations Day is when Sony reviews performance from the past year and discusses projections for how to expand the business going forward.

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House led the presentation about the PlayStation business. He started off by sharing some strong PS4 statistics and achievements-- including 20 million+ consoles sold--all of which you can see in the chart below.

Looking ahead to the future, however, is where things get more interesting. Sony's plan to "expand the PlayStation ecosystem" includes a number of steps to retain and expand the overall userbase. This includes efforts to court casual gamers, while also "strengthening the engagement" of core players.

Sony also said it hopes to increase the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) this fiscal year for the overall PlayStation platform. Part of the effort includes getting more people to sign up for PlayStation Plus by "enhancing its user value," as well as partnership campaigns with "best-in-class" services.

As would be expected, Sony spoke in broad strokes and did not provide much in the way of specifics. Sony is likely to talk in more detail about its gaming plans during E3 next month.

For lots more on Sony's gaming plans for the current fiscal year, check out all of the slides from the presentation in the gallery below."

Gallery