Sony has outlined a series of strategic initiatives including a focus on games, with which it hopes to revitalize its business after a particularly poor fiscal year.
Dubbing the new approach "One Sony," the company plans to build on the strength of its core businesses: games, mobile and digital imaging.
The plan is to concentrate investment and development in these three areas, with the aim to generate around 70 percent of total company sales, and 85 percent of total operating income from these three categories by the 2014 fiscal year.
The "One Sony" initiative is the first major moves by Kaz Hirai, the former PlayStation boss who took the reins of Sony as president and CEO earlier this year.
In terms of its games business, Sony plans to build more rapidly on its catalog of downloadable titles for both the PS3 and the PS Vita, and boost the effectiveness of its subscriptions services through the PSN platform.
It is also looking to expand the lineup of the PlayStation Suite compatible devices and content. The overall aim is to achieve revenue of ¥1 trillion ($12.4 billion) from its games business by fiscal 2014, alongside an operating income margin of 8 percent.
Sony also plans to aggressively expand its mobile technology for games, pushing for richer games content on its Sony Tablet and Vaio devices, and building on its Sony Entertainment Network platform.
Elsewhere, the company also outlined numerous other efforts to turn its business around, including steps towards bolstering its television business, plans for expansion into emerging markets, and initiatives to create new businesses and accelerate innovation within the company.
As part of this realignment plan, the company confirmed that around 10,000 jobs will be cut during the 2012 fiscal year, as previously rumored.
This "One Sony" move comes as the company revised its 2011 fiscal year forecast to project losses of ¥520 billion ($6.4 billion), more than doubling its initial projection.
Hopefully the plan to "accelerate innovations" includes destroying the aura of competitive secrecy between divisions. Sony can learn from the collaborative environments of innovative western companies, such as Apple.
While alot of people seem to want sony to "give up on hardware", i'd hate to see that, given they released this gens only high spec system with a durable design. Do people realy want Nin's low spec per buck & MS's proven to be iffy quality hardware as thier only choices? Not me.
Do people really want another Cell processor? Yes I realize they're not going that route again but I understand they've never really produced developer friendly hardware, ps3 just happened to be unusually hard to work with.
Its not that they should give up on hardware, but their oversized console, uninnovative controller, impractical disc drive & 'for the rich only' attitude to gaming this generation is disgraceful and goes against what the Playstation 1 and 2 were all about in the first place.
It isn't that people don't want powerful high spec hardware, they just don't want to pay 600 bucks for a console to get it. Sony still has this ridiculous attitude that gamers will pay for it no matter what just because it says Sony. They were completely arrogant with the PS3, and don't look to be learning much considering Vita sales. You would assume they would learn something by now.
It's not that Nintendo doesn't want high specs. Do you really think they do it on purpose? Nintendo just has a better understanding of what the general customer is willing to pay(minus 3DS launch). They are also always on the front lines of innovation. So, graphics take a back seat in favor of new ways to play games.
Sony systems have always been expensive, and not even durable pieces of hardware. The PS2 failure rate was almost 360 levels, and the PS3 had it's on yellow light of death. Sony charge you for their name or their extra agenda. As in the DVD player in the PS2, and the Blu Ray Player in the PS3. Now with the Vita we are paying for a LED screen. When Sony creates hardware they do it to sell other Sony products. It has nothing to do with the reason you buy a console to play games.
Why does a controller need to be "innovative"? PC games have used a mouse and keyboard set-up for decades now and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of great PC games or people willing to play them. The PS3 controller is a lot like the PS2/PS1/SNES controller because it's a design that works well for the kinds of experiences that console games provide.
For a while it was hard to find a Blu-ray player cheaper than the PS3. For those of us considering the format, it was a clear choice. Being a blu-ray player also meant the games could be on blu-ray as well, contributing to the death of the scourge known as multi-disk games. In fact, I wo-
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Adam, maybe you should look at some Wii games and what can be accomplished with new control schemes. History says the controller must evolve for games to become deeper. Without an evolving controller games like Madworld completely lose their potency.
Sony did not have an "arrogant" attitude during the PS3 launch, they followed a price skimming strategy - a reasonable approach used by lots of technology companies. Remember, each PS3 sold in the beginning was at a loss - so customers actually received a pretty good deal for their $600 investment. (Cost to manufacture estimated at $800)
Sure, it might seem high to the average customer, but a group of less price sensitive early adopters are willing to spend. If this segment exists, Sony should by all means market towards them. Once the segment exhausted (and cost of manufacturing dropped), prices fell to something more affordable.
Call the strategy arrogant, but it makes business sense - as Sony needs to recoup sunk costs. Unfortunately, you are not their initial target customer. Like it matters anyways though. How many AAA, must-have titles launched with the system anyways? I'm sure we can agree that there is a certain sweet-spot when purchasing a console - the price is right, the technology is still fresh, and there are a decent number of quality games.
Nintendo can price their consoles lower because they lack features and cutting-edge technology.
2013-2015 will not be stellar sales for Sony because the economy is in the toilet.
Here are the rumored specs of the PS4. IBM Watson/AMD CPU, AMD/ATI GPU 7000 series, 8-16gb ram, 1tb hdd, no blu ray, no cell processor, no b/c, and it's supposed to be on par with the Xbox 720. Price range $500 if released in 2013, and $400 if released in 2014 with some profit gained for every console sold. If Sony thinks sales will skyrocket with next generation they haven't been paying attention to the global economy.
Doug Poston, a lot rumors are spilling in various game news outlets such as Gamespot, Kotaku. Plus it's not hard at all to estimate the hardware given the available tech information. The real mystery will be the processors and their potential. People claim the IBM Watson chip will allow better AI.
The Valve/Apple meetings interest me more. I hope I'm wrong about Sony and Microsoft rushing their next gen consoles out in X-mas 2013. A 2014 launch will produce cheaper hardware with more potential.
Joe, PS2 was just fine. 360 on other hand was a faulty console released. That is the reason it kept failing. Only after the slim they were able to make fail check mechanism with other things so now atleast the box now when it is overheating and it shuts itself down. It can still die but at least the chances are reduced significantly now.
Kaz mad it clear that online services and games. Longevity of PS3, PSV, experia, tablets are key elements. PS4 will probably not be released before 2014.
sometimes i like to pop in my old snes games, or a gamecube or original xbox game. i own all of the current gen consoles and like the ps3 quite a lot. however, i rarely buy games for the ps3, because i doubt that ill be able to play them when the new "ps4" is released. i have zero trust in sony. i don't want to buy a psp because im sure in six months theyll release a new version and none of my games will work on the new system. i always opt to but the xbox version of the game because ifeel like ill be able to play my games ive spent a lot ofmoney on down the road when a new system is released. same with nintendo... i feel like i will be able to continue to get use out of the software I've purchased, even if its years from now.
But i'm pretty sure the PS3 released with not only backwards compatibility with PS2 games, but also PS1 Games.
Also, what makes you sure that Xbox will have backwards compatibility on the 720?
Perhaps the consoles in the future might be compatible with Digital versions of older games instead of discs, and you can upload what you own via a reader, much like Wal-mart's new Disc-to-Digital.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/04/disc -to-digital-at -wal-mart-is-simple-if-you-know-your-vudu.html
@ Daniel my optimism about Sony's backwards compatibility history is what i thought would carry over to the Vita, but so far you still cant play psone classics on it. Theyve also said PS2 classics wont be available on the Vita. It reinforces the idea that Sony are only interested in using their handhelds to repackage last gen games as $40 Vita titles with new coats of paint. Thus they don't want their PS2/PS1 classics to cannibalize that market.
@ Dario
I am pretty sure, the Vita doesn't have enough power to emulate a PS2, so I never expected PS2 games on the Vita, like the PS1 games on the PSP.
Outside of xbla ms never had a : lbp,mod nation,uncharted or journey. Xbox release's sure things like : cod,halo,gears and sports games so other than nintendo with their mostly decades old ip ,ms with their sure things and sony who've pumped out new ip from ps3's start i'd sooner see nintendo leave hardware.
If things continue the way i believe them to go nintendo might do just that. Wii U arrives 1st then when xbox next and ps4 are 2 years old nintendo might rush the next gen again paralleling genesis-saturn-dreamcast where sega rushed the next gen and was 1st out and 1st out of date.
Nintendo has great games unfortunately i can count the new ip that arrived after snes on 1 hand so while their biggest asset is the 3 pillars of metroid,mario and zelda all began on the nes so they need new ip or to team up with apple though tim cook was spotted at valve who are supposedly working on a steambox.
My vote for hardware death sprial sega style is nintendo because they make underpowered systems and have started rushing the next gen to stay relevant.....do that enough and well you'll become the next sega.
It's not that Nintendo doesn't want high specs. Do you really think they do it on purpose? Nintendo just has a better understanding of what the general customer is willing to pay(minus 3DS launch). They are also always on the front lines of innovation. So, graphics take a back seat in favor of new ways to play games.
Why does a controller need to be "innovative"? PC games have used a mouse and keyboard set-up for decades now and there doesn't seem to be any shortage of great PC games or people willing to play them. The PS3 controller is a lot like the PS2/PS1/SNES controller because it's a design that works well for the kinds of experiences that console games provide.
For a while it was hard to find a Blu-ray player cheaper than the PS3. For those of us considering the format, it was a clear choice. Being a blu-ray player also meant the games could be on blu-ray as well, contributing to the death of the scourge known as multi-disk games. In fact, I wo-
[Please insert disk 2 to continue reading this message]
Sony did not have an "arrogant" attitude during the PS3 launch, they followed a price skimming strategy - a reasonable approach used by lots of technology companies. Remember, each PS3 sold in the beginning was at a loss - so customers actually received a pretty good deal for their $600 investment. (Cost to manufacture estimated at $800)
Sure, it might seem high to the average customer, but a group of less price sensitive early adopters are willing to spend. If this segment exists, Sony should by all means market towards them. Once the segment exhausted (and cost of manufacturing dropped), prices fell to something more affordable.
Call the strategy arrogant, but it makes business sense - as Sony needs to recoup sunk costs. Unfortunately, you are not their initial target customer. Like it matters anyways though. How many AAA, must-have titles launched with the system anyways? I'm sure we can agree that there is a certain sweet-spot when purchasing a console - the price is right, the technology is still fresh, and there are a decent number of quality games.
Nintendo can price their consoles lower because they lack features and cutting-edge technology.
Here are the rumored specs of the PS4. IBM Watson/AMD CPU, AMD/ATI GPU 7000 series, 8-16gb ram, 1tb hdd, no blu ray, no cell processor, no b/c, and it's supposed to be on par with the Xbox 720. Price range $500 if released in 2013, and $400 if released in 2014 with some profit gained for every console sold. If Sony thinks sales will skyrocket with next generation they haven't been paying attention to the global economy.
The Valve/Apple meetings interest me more. I hope I'm wrong about Sony and Microsoft rushing their next gen consoles out in X-mas 2013. A 2014 launch will produce cheaper hardware with more potential.
Kaz mad it clear that online services and games. Longevity of PS3, PSV, experia, tablets are key elements. PS4 will probably not be released before 2014.
But i'm pretty sure the PS3 released with not only backwards compatibility with PS2 games, but also PS1 Games.
Also, what makes you sure that Xbox will have backwards compatibility on the 720?
Perhaps the consoles in the future might be compatible with Digital versions of older games instead of discs, and you can upload what you own via a reader, much like Wal-mart's new Disc-to-Digital.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/04/disc -to-digital-at
-wal-mart-is-simple-if-you-know-your-vudu.html
I am pretty sure, the Vita doesn't have enough power to emulate a PS2, so I never expected PS2 games on the Vita, like the PS1 games on the PSP.
If things continue the way i believe them to go nintendo might do just that. Wii U arrives 1st then when xbox next and ps4 are 2 years old nintendo might rush the next gen again paralleling genesis-saturn-dreamcast where sega rushed the next gen and was 1st out and 1st out of date.
Nintendo has great games unfortunately i can count the new ip that arrived after snes on 1 hand so while their biggest asset is the 3 pillars of metroid,mario and zelda all began on the nes so they need new ip or to team up with apple though tim cook was spotted at valve who are supposedly working on a steambox.
My vote for hardware death sprial sega style is nintendo because they make underpowered systems and have started rushing the next gen to stay relevant.....do that enough and well you'll become the next sega.