Let me rephrase this again.
With psnow profits as of now, it won't work with movies and TV at all.
Of course. And PSNow does not show any signs of increasing its subscribers. That's why they should rebrand it and leave that "only games" streaming service behind. They will have to compete with Disney+ and HBO targeting the casuals. The 3 billion. But Sony's offering would be something unique because it will have game streaming mixed in the portfolio to provide additional value.
You need tons of money for that. Movies and shows aren't like games, which are cheap to put it on your service.
I'm Sony Pictures know the math. Sony's movies still release on cinema before Sony sell them to Netflix and other streaming service. Unless of course they pay a hefty amount upfront. I'm not suggesting that Sony Picture's output be released day 1 on this hypothetical service. That will be a financial suicide. What I'm suggesting is that Sony Pictures to operate the way they do now, as is. The only difference would be that Sony's movies and shows to
also release on its own service.
You have to deal with licensing, actors royalty, and other royalties. Its why netflix is expensive. You need at most 50m to manage a TV, Movie subscription.
Sony has thousands of movies and shows waiting to be put in their service. Sony own those IPs. They could start with that.
Sony Pictures can operate the way it is operating right now. Sony movies and shows doesn't have to come to the service day 1. They can sell them to TV and other streaming services like they do now. The type of service I have in mind doesn't have to reinvent the wheel for Sony's business end. But of course it has to have its own original and exclusive shows. That's where the bulk of the expenses will come - the exclusive original shows.
I'm not suggesting that Sony has to outproduce Netflix with its 30 shows a month and put them in the service exclusively. They could mimic something like HBO Max with the kind of modest output they do. And then start from there. From the get go, it could have thousand of proprietary old movies and shows that Sony can shuffle in and out every month.
Only way I can see Sony making big change to psnow, is bundling to ps+, and making ps3 and ps2 games downloaded. This will make it more enticing.
Sony doesn't need to bundle them. That would be stupid. PS+ already have 40-50million subs without it.
What Sony could do is offer a higher tier PS+ that offers more services which could include the one you're suggesting - PS3 and PS2 games download plus more. But Sony doesn't have to bundle PSNow with it in order to pull if off.
PS+ could be sony's gamer-centric service. They could have a PS+ premium that has a bigger PS+ Plus Collection library which could include PS3 and PS2 games as you suggested. They can look into EA Access and mimic that. Just don't go the gamepass route.
PSNow has to evolve because after all the suggestions above it could be then redundant with PS+. Sony could follow a loss leading business model like gamepass while killing their $70 AAA business
or they could evolve it to something that would target the 3 billion casual market and compete with Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max while being unique in its offering.
But as long as 3m sub exist, TV and shows would be a huge loss.
Of course. Sony needs its Sony Pictures Department to help with the growth. Target the casuals. That's where the growth is at.
And as for content, its not that easy. You can own as much content as you can (disney+). But you will need nonstop content for your service. Something Sony can't afford to.
Sony already produce movies and shows nonstop month after month after month. They could put them in the service exclusively but I don't suggest they do that. They could operate Sony Pictures they do now, sell those movies and shows to other streaming services like they do now. The only difference is that it will also come out in their own all-in-one steaming service. But of course it has to have a few original shows of its own.
Netflix was able to pull it off despite them not owning a movie studio and production. Sony has a established movie production studios around the world. I'm not saying pulling it off is just a click of a button but Sony can definitely pull it off. Sony is not new to movie and TV show production business.
Sony is just too many companies, combined in to a 1 $200b company. As long as other sectors exist, they will be financially unable to create something like that.
It has its drawbacks, but it also has its advantage. One advantage is Sony's ability to create an all-in-one streaming service that takes advantage of its different divisions - Sony Pictures, Playstation, Aniplex (anime), etc.
In order to sustain that service, they need to burn their reserve cash, which is something they can't afford to. All their sectors have competition. And you can't carelessly waste money.
Sony is now looking for growth. Heck, they're even looking into the electric car business. One way they could grow is to have its own streaming service that is unique to Sony - movies, shows, anime, videogames.