Talk about big news: News site
The Huffington Post is now reporting that Sony will post their first loss since 1985, and it is a big one: $1.1 billion, or over 100 billion yen, for the year 2008. Yes, Sony is a conglomerate, but that is a huge number for any company to have to post as a loss. And one line in particular is of concern.
From the story:
"The losses are coming from the company's core electronics division, which has long been a steady source of profits, the reports said. The Nikkei said Sony's operating loss could balloon to as much as 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion)."
That is not good. I don't know if the writer or if Sony groups SCE with the electronics division, since the PS3 is as much an electronics device as Bravia flat-screens or Sony's Vaio laptop line, but there will likely be repercussions as a result of this. I posted yesterday that the PSP might be in trouble due to slow sales and potential developers shifting resources elsewhere. This might make that potential trouble into reality. We'll have to see what Sony does in response, but layoffs are likely and some studios (maybe 2-3) are probably going to get shut down if things are as bad as they seem. The PS3 is safe, though, as are the PS4 and I would assume most of Sony's first-party titles that are well into development.
But the money to patch this loss has to come from somewhere. The question is: where?
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Contest:
12:01 AM on 01.13.2009
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Also, gaming division shouldn't be in too much trouble. Remember that in the 30s movies remained popular despite a depression. People like escapism.
That is a shitload of money.
Question is, does Sony have ample reserves to bounce back.
If anything this crisis may cause with some wishful thinking, price drops.
Perhaps Sony should have made a system from cheap devices, guaranteed to break down and sell it at half the price.
2009 is make or break time!
MS were shafted $1.5 billion just for the RROD mess.
Is it me or does the media really think companies don't save up for rainy years? I know the likes of Woolworths were raped thanks to a few greedy directors, who could have saved the company.
But how much profit has Sony been raking in all these years? Lets not forget that Sony's stocks raised to a 5 year high mid 2007 (with them reporting $3.4 billion in profit). I would hope they know how to save some of that.
It's odd how people immediately think this will be the end of them.
ROFL
Also thats a big loss indeed...
But again, not to be a total bitch with this post.
If you're losing over a BILLION dollars, there is a flaw in your business plans.
Glad Nintendo turned it around this round....otherwise that company would be on the way to a monopoly in video games too.
Sony's "core electronics" are home entertainment, but not gaming electronics. TVs, audio/video components, and the like are what they're talking about, and they're getting their asses handed to them because Sony is typically overpriced, the market is not there any more, and for what market there is the competition is fierce with companies like Best Buy and (ugh) Wal-Mart releasing their own brands, which are actually not bad. LG and Samsung are ripping into Sony as well.
nice one, sony. Hope your incentive structure gave the execs motivation to keep cash in the bank instead of lever up.
Positive spin: Loss is from TV division. Sony will shift more focus to SCE and the PS3 for 2009 as evident at CES.
Apparently, you've not heard of this thing called the Xbox 360. Stop putting the Wii and PS3 in the same category. They're not and never were meant to be. If the PS3 fails, yes, the Wii will get more attention, but the majority of attention will go to the 360.
Anyway, Fuck PS3 that is all :)
That's not his point. If the Playstation brand with all the hardcore gaming associated with it is failing, and the Wii with all its shovelware is doing wonders, what does that say about the industry? It says that developers (who have to feed their kids just like the rest of us) will have even more financial motive to release crap.
Of course, MS is posting profits for the first time ever, so hopefully this is more a comment on Sony's tendency to shoot themselves in the foot than the hardcore audience becoming negligible.
*yawn* I've heard worse from better. So, I'm supposed to care what las tough your opinion of me fucking matters? Wow. Pot. Kettle. Black. Go fuck yourself. This has been a recording.
@PrimetimeFool:
I don't think it says anything about the industry. Is says a hell of a lot about Sony. They made the mistake of pushing the PS3 as a home media center more than anything by making it key in their fight against HD DVD. That kept MS and Nintendo to push their consoles as what they really are meant to be -- game machines. That being the case, it's no wonder that developers kept pushing towards 360 and Wii.
When HD DVD finally gave in, Sony never went back to push the PS3 as a game machine and kept focusing on Blu-ray, which just kept allowing Nintendo and MS to push ahead farther. Because of that, Sony has to play a hell of a lot of catch-up in a market that does not bode well for catching up.
Conversely, the Wii was caught in the tidal wave of its own popularity which caught everyone - including the developers - off guard. Suddenly, the developers are "Oh, shit! We have to get some titles out!" I think that's starting to subside now with titles like "No More Heroes" (and upcoming sequel), "MadWorld", and other titles that are coming out now that developers have been able to put more time and resources into their games.
I don't think that developers are stupid. If they keep pushing out crap, people will stop buying. EA is starting to learn that lesson, and I think that Activision is next.
Hmm.. Interesting. I guess I was trying to communicate with GooN on his own primitive level and failed. Oh, well.
Sony has made some really poor choices in this console run (not helped at all by a flagging economy) and if you know the "history" then you can see more than a passing resemblance to Sega's last days.
Although I would regret seeing Sony's passing (alternative voices are good for gamers), I don't agree that it would be the end of gaming as we know it. I have seen a few posts that mark the PS3 as the home of "hardcore gaming" while laying "casual gaming" at the feet of Nintendo. I am actually old enough to remember Sony's philosophy when the first jumped on the scene....they initially aimed at casual gamers claiming that games had become too difficult for younger generations to enjoy....they built a reputation for making easier games that were "fun"....in short they dumbed down the experience. That approach won many fans, but to engage in revisionist history and claim that Sony represents “hardcore gamers” is absurd.
I agree with John B. Honestly, given the number of games and variety of titles, I'd have to say that the 360 is just as much the "home of the hardcore" (if not slightly more so) than the PS3.
I know many people view gaming as the nearly-exclusive property of Japanese culture and this may have some to do with the sacred cow-like stance many fans take, but I would hold off on sounding the death knell when a major Japanese player falls off the map (its happened to me before).
If you have been paying attention, legendary Japanese game-makers have been lamenting the rut they currently find themselves in as an industry. Heads at SquareSoft have repeatedly said that western game makers have pulled far ahead of their Japanese counterparts. They sited the traditional (and destructive) secrecy of Japanese game-makers as the largest reason for the divide. Don’t get me wrong, I lived on Japanese imports for both my Saturn and Dreamcast and I still love them dearly….but times have changed. Even on Sony systems, western developers have put out inspired work and I would argue better work than their Japanese counterparts on the PS3.
Sometimes I wonder if the resistance that Xbox has enjoyed was more related to a whole generation of gamers that grew up thinking “only the Japanese can craft great games and my first and last console will be a SONY”. Again, I am actually old enough to remember that Atari (a western developer) started it all and I should keep the field open for whomever is capable of doing the work. Maybe Sony will go under….maybe they won’t….doesn’t matter because the games will live on.
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