Sony CEO Wants PlayStation Ecosystem to Expand into PC, AI & Cloud Territories

[T0@st]

Kenichiro Yoshida—Sony Group Corporation Chairman, President And CEO—appeared as a guest on Norges Bank Investment Management's Good Company videocast late last year. News outlets have sluggishly picked up on some interesting tidbits from the November 2023 interview—the Sony boss has discussed his gaming division's ambitions in the recent past, but (host) Nicolai Tangen managed to pry out a clearer picture of PlayStation's ambitions for the future. Yoshida-san has an all-encompassing vision for the brand: "In short, it will be ubiquitous wherever there is computing users will be able to play their favorite games seamlessly, gamers will be able to find a place to play in different spaces, while PlayStation will remain our core product, we will expand our gaming experiences to PC, Mobile and Cloud." Gamers on the PC platform have to wait roughly two to three years for PlayStation exclusive titles to breakaway from home consoles origins—it is encouraging to hear that a greater number of conversions could be in the pipeline (with shorter lead times...hopefully).

The discussion moved onto game subscription services—a hotbed talking point as of late—Yoshida seemed to be happy with his company's normal mode of operation: "Well, we do subscription business model. At the same time, people usually play one game at the time, so an all-you-can-eat type of many games may not be so valuable compared with video streaming services. We have kind of balanced a hybrid service on PlayStation Network: subscription as well as paid content." Microsoft is a market leader with its Xbox and PC Game Pass services, now bolstered with a takeover of Activision Blizzard—the Sony CEO remained calm regarding his firm's main rival: "Healthy competition is necessary for the Games Industry to grow and at Sony we believe it is important to provide gamers with different options to play so we will continue our efforts to achieve this."




Yoshida's stance on Artificial Intelligence was quite balanced—it is inevitable that the technology will be integrated to a greater degree at PlayStation development houses: "The convergence and computing is a megatrend, and AI is also born out of computing. So, we cannot get in the way of technology, but at the same time, entertainment is a people business...The content that forms that basis of entertainment is creator-generated, and copyrighted. Creators involvement is essential. Therefore, Sony positions AI as a technology that supports creators, and it should not replace them...Games are computer software, it is made by programming languages. LLM (large language models) with help streamline game development, allowing creators to focus on creators to focus more on creativity."

Norges Bank Investment Management's video description states: "Sony Goup Chair & CEO: Future of gaming, music, AI and Japanese culture—Kenichiro Yoshida is Chair and CEO in the Japanese company Sony Group. In this podcast he provides unique insight into one of the worlds most creative companies. He has been the CEO since 2018 and been really successful! How does he foster innovation, what innovations can we expect to see in gaming, music and entertainment? Tune in!

"At the end of 2022 the fund's holdings in Sony amounted to close to 2 billion US Dollars, or just shy of 17 billion Norwegian kroner in 2022 currency. The podcast In Good Company is part of Norges Bank Investment Management, a podcast about our investments. We are transparent about how the fund is invested. In this podcast, you to get a deeper insight into the companies the fund is invested in.

Our CEO, Nicolai Tangen, has in-depth interviews with the leaders of some of the largest companies in the world. You will get insight into their leadership principles, the company's strategy and how they are dealing with a large investor like us. You will also learn more about our role as an owner of the companies."

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[Dristun]

Still waiting for Gran Turismo 7

 

[Prima.Vera]

Ah Sony. The most overrated and most callous company out there. Selling overpriced TVs, which are 2 or 3x times more expensive than competition for the same quality, while still using LG panels. . Sony, on which their products break down 1 week, or within 1 month after warranty expires.
Whatever that double face Sony guy is selling, just take it with 2 pinches of salt.

 

[Deleted member 229121]

^ I buy their exclusives, it's the only reason I kept PlayStations around along with PC over the years.
Now I get to buy them on Steam and don't need their giant Manta Ray of a console

Still waiting for Gran Turismo 7

Same, but doubt that will ever happen honestly.
I've been happy enough though with Forza (SIM and Horizon).

 

[Easy Rhino]

Ah Sony. The most overrated and most callous company out there. Selling overpriced TVs, which are 2 or 3x times more expensive than competition for the same quality, while still using LG panels. . Sony, on which their products break down 1 week, or within 1 month after warranty expires.
Whatever that double face Sony guy is selling, just take it with 2 pinches of salt.

I did always find it strange how expensive their TVs were. They have a higher tier lineup that really does not look better than Samsung or LG offerings.

 

[TechLurker]

Idly, I wonder if Sony might push the Playstation branding into semi-custom portables, such as Steam Deck-alikes (a new PSP) or even something like a PlayStation Tablet while including their proprietary memory management chip that allows for extremely fast loading/reading. Or even refine the PSOS to have a "desktop" M&K mode allowing for a kind of "dual use" feature, sort of pushing the PS ecosystem as another kind of alternative, gaming-oriented, OS like Steam OS is becoming (and the fact that people are starting to use their Steam Decks for more than gaming).

 

[natr0n]

I have no scrupels against pc releases.

 

[THU31]

Wasn't there a rumor of a PlayStation launcher for PC quite a while ago?

I wouldn't mind that, as long as it basically offers cross-buy and cross-save, they way Microsoft does (Play Anywhere). You buy the game once (or purchase a subscription), and you can play it on console or PC and continue your progress. Steam versions could also exist, without that functionality.

 

[wawa]

I did always find it strange how expensive their TVs were. They have a higher tier lineup that really does not look better than Samsung or LG offerings.

Sony TVs lose in blind shootouts but they still choose to sell at high price points because their profitability is garbage - they have to source the highest quality displays from Samsung/LG. They are insignificant in the premium/general TV space in terms of features and market share. Sony is barely hanging on. Sony needs to focus on Playstation because that's literally their only sector that makes any money or has a future, but according to the internal leaks, even the Playstation's future is bleak considering how scared they are about their outdated losing business strategy.

 

[Paganstomp]

I WANT ROOT KITS!!!

 

[TechLurker]

Sony TVs lose in blind shootouts but they still choose to sell at high price points because their profitability is garbage - they have to source the highest quality displays from Samsung/LG. They are insignificant in the premium/general TV space in terms of features and market share. Sony is barely hanging on. Sony needs to focus on Playstation because that's literally their only sector that makes any money or has a future, but according to the internal leaks, even the Playstation's future is bleak considering how scared they are about their outdated losing business strategy.

Eh, Sony often comes in 2nd and 3rd in various TV reviews; their main feature being having higher brightness without washing out colors, being slightly cheaper at generally equivalent tiering, and often better gaming performance given their tie-in to PlayStation, but Samsung and LG often offer better HDR and blacks.

As for barely hanging on, Sony's picture, video, audio, and automotive divisions are still doing quite well, having come out of the pandemic in a much better state than many other companies. Their sensors are still some of the best on the market, being used everywhere except in Sony's own consumer-grade cameras, their movie/video division took some hits but has recovered well enough and have continued buying up IP rights, their audio division is still competitive with Bose, JBL, B&O, and others, and their automotive division has plenty of partners and is now working on an EV of their own in partnership with Honda.

As for PlayStation, they definitely have some issues going on there. While the PS5 has been outselling Xboxes and even some low-end PCs and doing well with exclusives, they've had mixed messaging in regards to future content and the path they want to take PlayStation. Having shifted much of their control to the US-based branch has actually backfired on them, with a rising demand by investors to let PlayStation Japan retake control of it since the US division seems to be making multiple poor choices. There's also the whole side issue of censoring on PS vs on Xbox/PC or even Nintendo in recent years, when in the PS2-PS3 era, it was Sony who was quite liberal about sex, blood, and violence on its platforms while Xbox and Nintendo censored blood, gore, and mature content.

So I don't get the doom and gloom considering they're still able to compete on multiple fronts and still explore new ones.

 

[Dr. Dro]

About time the guy realized we ain't buying hardware. I refuse to be locked into a console ecosystem

 

[R0H1T]

I did always find it strange how expensive their TVs were.

Well their cost of operations is generally higher, being from Japan, & they probably don't (want to)outsource as much?

being slightly cheaper at generally equivalent tiering, and often better gaming performance given their tie-in to PlayStation, but Samsung and LG often offer better HDR and blacks.

They're still among the best TV makers out there & their top tier TV's generally match or beat the LG, Samsung units every now & then just that the latter two probably have 10x as many models now!

TV Table Tool

www.rtings.com

 

[Vayra86]

Ah Sony. The most overrated and most callous company out there. Selling overpriced TVs, which are 2 or 3x times more expensive than competition for the same quality, while still using LG panels. . Sony, on which their products break down 1 week, or within 1 month after warranty expires.
Whatever that double face Sony guy is selling, just take it with 2 pinches of salt.

Ah Sony, of the discman, the camera, and a game publisher that might have the most impressive portfolio in gaming history along with Nintendo.

Yeah, total junk. Rather take a look at MS. Now thats a company pushing the envelope in consumer TLC right there! One Windows forever... oops we are onto 12. And how is GFWLeurhhm I mean Xbox live subscription gaming doing these days?

About time the guy realized we ain't buying hardware. I refuse to be locked into a console ecosystem

But we are, people just couldnt for quite awhile...

 

[Onasi]

Ah Sony, of the discman, the camera, and a game publisher that might have the most impressive portfolio in gaming history along with Nintendo.

It would be lovely if Sony actually returned to being that titan who was willing to take risks and go full ham in the gaming space. Their current first party catalog consists of the same type of “muh cinematic” games and it grates a bit. I have no idea how one manages to make God of War boring, but they somehow managed. Bring the PS brand control over back to the Japan branch, I say, the California HQ has been making a hash of things.

 

[Vayra86]

It would be lovely if Sony actually returned to being that titan who was willing to take risks and go full ham in the gaming space. Their current first party catalog consists of the same type of “muh cinematic” games and it grates a bit. I have no idea how one manages to make God of War boring, but they somehow managed. Bring the PS brand control over back to the Japan branch, I say, the California HQ has been making a hash of things.

Agreed

 

[Chaitanya]

Well their cost of operations is generally higher, being from Japan, & they probably don't (want to)outsource as much?

They're still among the best TV makers out there & their top tier TV's generally match or beat the LG, Samsung units every now & then just that the latter two probably have 10x as many models now!

TV Table Tool

www.rtings.com

Sony manufactuers most of their products in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. They barely manufacture anything in Japan anymore.

 

[R0H1T]

Yes but they have to pay Japan salaries, to their employees over there, don't they? And China isn't exactly cheap these days, nor (Western) business friendly. Samsung and LG dominate this space a lot because of their R&D & volumes.

 

[Nekajo]

Thats what they say, in reality they want to lock you deep into their ecosystem, to keep Playstation relevant

 

[Dr. Dro]

But we are, people just couldnt for quite awhile...

What I mean is... I'm buying their games but not a Playstation