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VG24/7: Sony doubles down on games, confirms 10,000 lay-offs

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T

Tomcat

Member
Kenshin001 said:
Good to see they are intent on focussing on downloadable games on PSN. They are really lagging behind compared to XBLA and Steam. Don't know who is in charge of selecting and acquiring games for PSN but they are doing a poor job and should be replaced.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a person's fault but how many money they invest
 
G

Globox_82

Banned
Kenshin001 said:
Good to see they are intent on focussing on downloadable games on PSN. They are really lagging behind compared to XBLA and Steam. Don't know who is in charge of selecting and acquiring games for PSN but they are doing a poor job and should be replaced.
Click to expand...

agreed. Most of the games are so niche and plain boring looking.
there are some gems like Flower, Journey. Incoming Datura, Pedo & Yo look interesting
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
C_H_T said:
Maybe Sony should release a Windows Phone 7 based phone, cos there's still a big space to grow in comparison with the Android OS. In addition, WP7 only supports single core processors. They could easily build a cheap phone to compete with others.
Click to expand...

They were rumored to be thinking about it, but they wanted to include PSN instead of the XBLA app and MS supposedly wouldn't budge. It will be interesting if how they approach Win8 laptops as XBLA will be integrated into that as well.
 
R

RukusProvider

Banned
MadmanUK said:
Looking forward to pay for online.
Click to expand...

Get used to the idea because it's going to happen.

Anyway 2014 is nice n all but what are they going to do for the next 2 years? Keep bleeding?

If Sony are serious about mobile, they needs to have their own OS.

A custom unified OS across their tablet and mobile offering would be their best bet. Also, only a handful of SKU's are needed. Keep a clean, easy to follow portfolio of products and they could make a comeback.
 
C

Captain Tuttle

Member
Trying to make Sony more nimble is going to require a massive cultural shift in the company. I think this is what Kaz has to focus on; concentrate on successful business units, cut out the fat ruthlessly and make Sony react more quickly to the market.
 
F

fluffydelusions

Member
Cutting jobs doesn't seem much of a long term solution. What are they going to do about their divisions and products no one buys...still produce them? Are they really that stubborn?
 
S

SykoTech

Member
Hmm, sounds like their gaming division isn't going to take much of a hit. Very relieving. Hope for next gen slightly on the rise.

Amir0x said:
I hope it works out. When Sony was master race of the game world, things just ran smoothly. None of this gimmicky bullshit, just pure gaming non-stop... and the largest, most varied library of games under any roof, still to this day. All at a loss leading price for consumers.


I hope they can turn it around, but man Vita and their ongoing PS3 problems don't inspire hope. I love Vita, but I think gaming dedicated handhelds are on the decline and the days that a $250+ gaming dedicated handheld would ever have been viable are gone altogether (if they ever existed in the first place). I hope they know what they're doing for PS4.
Click to expand...

Very well said. Here's hoping they continue that road in the future. I definitely need at least one console next gen that doesn't revolve around gimmicky garbage.
 
K

Kenshin001

Member
Tomcat said:
I don't think it's a person's fault but how many money they invest
Click to expand...

I think it's a person's fault. Probably Grace Chen as she is the Senior Manager of the store.

There are a lot of games out there that could easily make their way to PSN for minimal cost to Sony if they reached out to the developers and offered good terms. I don't think they have a very pro-active strategy in finding games and their promotions and campaigns just seem sloppy. The poor promotion of Closure and the last minute inclusion of the rather crap Wheels of Destruction in the Spring Fever campaign is a prime example.
 
W

Wind's Howling

Member
I would suggest them to bail out on Mobile as well. They are never going to gain any profit when you are up against Apple, HTC and Blackberry. I absolutely love their digital camera's, but their true heart should definitely lie in gaming. That is what they are best in now.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
fluffydelusions said:
Cutting jobs doesn't seem much of a long term solution. What are they going to do about their divisions and products no one buys...still produce them? Are they really that stubborn?
Click to expand...


The jobs is the headline, but the context of the job losses is in fact (partially) the withdrawal from business segments that are of limited value. And within other remaining business segments they are indeed also reviewing their product portfolio, the TV line being reduced pretty substantially.

Other existing business areas will be evaluated according to the following four criteria, so that Sony can determine the optimum strategy for these businesses, including proactive consideration of alliances and business transfers in order to optimize its overall business portfolio:

- Loss generating, negative operating cash flow or low revenue businesses
- Limited synergies with core businesses
- Businesses where commoditization is advanced and prospects for growth are limited
- Businesses where opportunities for revitalization and growth are enhanced through collaboration with partners rather than independent operation by Sony
Click to expand...

Re. TV:

Additionally, Sony is taking further measures to change the business structure, for example by improving design engineering efficiency and reducing the number of product models (targeting a 40% reduction from the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012 ("FY11") to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 ("FY12"))
Click to expand...

IIRC one of the first things Hirai said he'd be doing would be sitting down and reviewing each of Sony's 2000 or so products.
 
C

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Rivyn said:
I would suggest them to bail out on Mobile as well. They are never going to gain any profit when you are up against Apple, HTC and Blackberry. I absolutely love their digital camera's, but their true heart should definitely lie in gaming. That is what they are best in now.
Click to expand...

I'd consider Samsung a far bigger competitor to them than Blackberry. Are Blackberry phones even sold outside the US?
 
N

NemesisPrime

Banned
gogogow said:
True, Joe Consumer will probably get the Galaxy S2/S3 or iPhone 4S anyway. But I care, so they lost a potential customer. How "good" is it doing? It isn't even released in the US and in the UK Vodafone will not offer it. Their mobile phone sales has been dropping like a rock since 2007. And their market share has shrunk to 1.8% last year. Hmm....I guess Joe Consumer cares after all and the people who do not care are in the 1(.8)%. Hope Kaz will turn things around, because their mobile division doesn't look good atm.
Click to expand...

With all due respect. If you care about quad core phones, you really have no clue. Quad core phones have zero advantages. What exactly are you going to use all that "power" on anyway? On a browser? Facebook? Twitter?

For end users it is all about price and looks and I think Sony has a really good chance there (they need to work on price, but design wise they are close to Apple IMHO).
 
S

see5harp

Member
NemesisPrime said:
With all due respect. If you care about quad core phones, you really have no clue. Quad core phones have zero advantages. What exactly are you going to use all that "power" on anyway? On a browser? Facebook? Twitter?

For end users it is all about price and looks and I think Sony has a really good chance there (they need to work on price, but design wise they are close to Apple IMHO).
Click to expand...

I think Sony is definitely one of the best in terms of design. They are really far behind in terms of software and ecosystem design though. They just released their new top of the line phone running an old Android build. Look at the way the Vita works with the online features and spotty PSP BC and the weird content manager. They really need to work that stuff out if they ever want to get close to Apple.
 
M

matmanx1

Member
If they are aiming for 8% margin in 2014 that almost confirms what we've thought for some time about the Vita and the PS4. They cost minimal (comparitive to PS2 and PS3) money to design and will be sold at or near the break even point using widely available off the shelf parts. We already knew most of that about the Vita anyway but this pretty much confirms it for the PS4 as well.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though as long as Sony does as good a job picking internals for the PS4 as they did for the Vita. It's a delicate balancing act indeed to pack enough power in the box to last for a console generation while also not breaking the bank on day 1 to deliver it.

For what it's worth I still expect the PS4 to be well beyond the WiiU in terms of hardware strength but Sony might actually end up behind Microsoft this time as the 720 is something of a wildcard. Either way, it's going to be an interesting year as we get more information about all of this.
 
Elginer

Elginer

Member
Hope Sony turns it around. I still can't see them willing to lose money on their next system but that seems to be breaks for them if it can help them make some cash like Nintendo from day 1 on a system launch. Odds are the system will be a nice step up from the PS3 but nothing crazy and I guess that's OK. If anything software is getting smarter and devs are finding amazing ways of getting visuals out of systems that don't need to be cutting edge but are solid tech. I expect that from the PS4.

I just hope the Vita which is an awesome piece of hardware turns the corner because currently it's not doing so hot.
 
J

jonno394

Member
Combichristoffersen said:
What? I don't even live in the US. Aren't Blackberries mainly popular in the US, with Apple/Samsung being dominant in Europe, and fuck knows what in Asia?
Click to expand...

Blackberry Phones are huge here in the UK. The BBM service is a hit with the 11-25 age range. It’s ridiculous how many I see on my morning commute.
 
C

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
jonno394 said:
Blackberry Phones are huge here in the UK. The BBM service is a hit with the 11-25 age range. It’s ridiculous how many I see on my morning commute.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't think Blackberries are even sold here in Norway, as I've never seen any advertising whatsoever for them. It's all about Samsung, HTC and Apple
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
I've always wondered why Sony has never attempted to combine a Playstation and a TV. Is there an engineering issue preventing this? I'd imagine it would be fairly expensive, but it would be a great way for them to differentiate their TVs from the competition.
 
M

massoluk

Banned
Some people probably don't want to hear it, but Vita has enough shit in there to make it one very great attractive smartphones. A very uber one. It's perplexing why there's not a Vita phone version.
 
R

Ravage

Member
Amir0x said:
I hope it works out. When Sony was master race of the game world, things just ran smoothly. None of this gimmicky bullshit, just pure gaming non-stop... and the largest, most varied library of games under any roof, still to this day. All at a loss leading price for consumers.


I hope they can turn it around, but man Vita and their ongoing PS3 problems don't inspire hope. I love Vita, but I think gaming dedicated handhelds are on the decline and the days that a $250+ gaming dedicated handheld would ever have been viable are gone altogether (if they ever existed in the first place). I hope they know what they're doing for PS4.
Click to expand...

Have never thought of it that way but i definitely agree with you.

I'm relieved to hear that the gaming segment remains top priority for them.
 
J

jey_16

Banned
The HTC One X and One S destroy Sony's current smartphone lineup, the S3 is going to be a monster and you have the new iPhone coming out as well. They are just not cutting it at the moment and I still still can't believe they released their new flagship running gingerbread
 
P

Pai Pai Master

Banned
This is nothing but good news for PlayStation right? By consolidating other areas of business, there are far more resources available for Sony to invest in PS3 and PSV. They should be able to moneyhat some actual support for Vita now, right?
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
Pai Pai Master said:
This is nothing but good news for PlayStation right? By consolidating other areas of business, there are far more resources available for Sony to invest in PS3 and PSV. They should be able to moneyhat some actual support for Vita now, right?
Click to expand...

They need to concentrate on getting more consumers to buy the Vita, software support won't be a problem then. Moneyhatting software publishers is a huge waste of money in my opinion.
 
U

Uno Venova

Banned
Amir0x said:
I hope it works out. When Sony was master race of the game world, things just ran smoothly. None of this gimmicky bullshit, just pure gaming non-stop... and the largest, most varied library of games under any roof, still to this day. All at a loss leading price for consumers.
Click to expand...
Ravage said:
Have never thought of it that way but i definitely agree with you.

I'm relieved to hear that the gaming segment remains top priority for them.
Click to expand...

Same, I never thought it it like that, but it's true.
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Combichristoffersen said:
So they're moving jobs from unprofitable divisions to other divisions, or am I reading your post wrong?
Click to expand...

No, they merged the mobile display unit to a Japanese state owned company along with Toshiba and Hitachi to form Japan Display Inc. that would account for at least 3-4k jobs. They are also looking for a sale/spin off of their chemicals division which is another 3-4k jobs. Of the 10k most of the actual losses are going to come from management in electronics but at least 5k will be transferred through division sales.
 
S

Sidewinder

Member
massoluk said:
Some people probably don't want to hear it, but Vita has enough shit in there to make it one very great attractive smartphones. A very uber one. It's perplexing why there's not a Vita phone version.
Click to expand...

I'm asking myself if it's even doable or such a good idea.

Assuming Sony made a Vitaphone, it'd need all the inputs like the real deal (buttons, analogue sticks, back touch screen...) so it'd be a fat quite expensive device that would drain your battery fast, rendering your phone useless in a short time.

The phone part of this machine would be obsolete in 6 months - 1 year...so Sony should update the Vitaphone every now and then with new innards and offer full backwards compatibility. Because who'd buy an old phone duct taped to a Vita?
 
S

spwolf

Member
gofreak said:
They haven't given game specific figures for ages, just saying it's been profitable for the last x quarters, but you could derive operating income for last year from this chart:

SVMzz.png


i.e. around $400m+?

Notable they don't mention FY12 or FY13...i.e. PS3->PS4 transition years, likely loss making.


Also:

Bz0Kr.png


Vita-phone(s), mark it.
Click to expand...

Well.. they use FY14 in all of their predictions, it is nothing specific to game division.

However what I see is only 20% rise in revenues. That could be due to lower transaction price and also lowering expectations.

In any case, it seems gaming will see big push in the future, not less.
 
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