Every day we’re hearing of a company running through a round of layoffs or going out of business, it’s really not a happy time. Sony is not immune to the economic troubles either. Sony is talking restructuring and that involves a potential head count reduction of 16,000 jobs due to plant closings.
This leaves Sony with some hard decisions. Restructuring can mean drastic changes that effect all their product lines. The PlayStation 3 isn’t currently a shining example of high profit margins. The console needs time to reduce its overall cost, chip sizes and bring profitability. Is it in danger?
“Sony’s not in a position to halt all domestic production but it has to do something that drastic,” said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. “If it announces plans to move production overseas while keeping only planning and development functions in Japan, that would be a positive.” (gamestooge)
The yen is losing value in our global economy making it more difficult to export the product and build any type of profitability plan. “A source said this month the company will likely suffer an annual operating loss of about $1.1 billion, its first such loss in 14 years” (news.yahoo.com) All this noise is making CEO Howard Stringer contemplate Sony’s involvement as a “software only” company, making us recall the changes at SEGA to this same result.
The Financial Times reported Sony will unveil details of its restructuring steps on Wednesday or Thursday. It said Chief Executive Howard Stringer was meeting with resistance from some executives to shifting the company’s focus to software from hardware and cutting jobs in Japan. (news.yahoo.com)
Is this just a case of a fearful executive trying to lay plans for a more stable future? Software is easier to develop, pays for itself quickly and becomes pure profit as it ages. Hardware requires constant upkeep at manufacturing facilities, chip reductions and a boat load of quality planning for first shipment. Would Sony go full software?
Let’s face it, Sony isn’t SEGA, they’ve been developing hardware for consumers since anyone can remember and they’ve been doing it with quality and market penetration. It seems absurd to think they’d forgo hardware designs in replacement of a full software solution to the problem. In addition, Sony has already invested a large amount of cash into seeing PS3 through it’s 10-year plan and letting that die now is realizing a huge loss on investment.
If Sony pushes through the economic and maintenance course, the PS3 will become highly profitable, much like the PS2 last generation (with a slower ramp up for sales). Even if they break even after ten years it seems a lot better than throwing all the effort away.
Perhaps Howard Stringer is talking “software” for the next generation home console? You think Sony will create a PlayStation 4?
@GameStop vs. Deus Ex
Paul, Deus Ex are two separate words.
As for the news item itself, well, we talked already in the forums. Just one thing I want to say: they should have pulled the game from the shelves right at the beginning, instead of taking out the coupon.
That’s tampering with a product, so I agree with Paul.
@Origin EULA:
Jonah pointed it clearly, the new formulation says absolutely nothing of what they will or will not do.
If this is not an excuse for pirates, then I don’t know what is …
Paul, the question is, once you have the power to access a lot of customer information, what will enforce a corporation to only do “the good thing”?
Yes Jordan, you can call me Mr. Alien.
And Jonah, the reason my sister liked UT is because of the flak cannon: she loved shredding enemies to pieces with it.
@Are you interested in Epic Mickey 2?
No. Sorry, just can’t see myself jumping from STALKER/Doom 3 and the likes to Epic Mickey 1, 2, 3 or 999.
Paul, Jonah doesn’t dismiss your opinions. He dismisses any opinion that doesn’t fit with his. So yeah, he’s a bit of a bully.
Still, while he doesn’t agree with some of the stuff that I write, he still gives voice to my comments (although now it seems to be Jordan).
Jordan was right, this kind of conflicts do give the show some charm.
@ Flop vs. Failure:
The two terms are interchangeable when it comes to the subject at hand. Heck, one of Miriam-Websters’ definitions of flop is “To fail completely.”
@ Who has one console?
If you count current-gen consoles, I only have one. If not, then I still only have two, the other being a PS2. The Wii never managed to grab my interest outside of its initial scavenger hunt craze to find one. (Which I didn’t.) The PS3 was out of my price range long enough for me to skip over it, and the bulk of the people I play with are either mainly or only 360 owners, as well.
@ Episode 227’s Question:
I used to dream of DDR, and still see stepcharts in my head while listening to music daily. Now that I’ve been watching some MLG videos, I’m dreaming about being there and wondering what the heck I’m doing.
@ Epic Mickey 2:
Possibly, as the first seemed to have interesting concepts, but I never got to play it, as I don’t own a Wii. I would think about picking up a sequel if it comes out for the platform I own.
(And, yes, I know that askewed isn’t a proper conjugation of the word, that’s kind of the point.)
Is this where I send my hate mail for VGRT?
haha.
not sure what that was about…
Paul sounded like he was PMS-ing pretty bad…
get that guy a Midol! stat!
funny show, with lots of good info, and, though
I hate to admit it, the arguing makes it even more entertaining…
He’s like your Bababooey or something.
anyway, thanks for the info & laughs!