Sony CEO Apologizes as PS4 Maker Restructures for Growth

Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai apologized to investors after the company forecast a sixth loss in seven years, and he pledged that his restructuring efforts would fuel the electronics maker’s long-term growth.

“Sorry that we failed to meet shareholders’ expectations,” Hirai said at the company’s annual meeting in Tokyo. “We will bear responsibility to complete restructuring in fiscal 2014, with a strong sense of crisis and without further delay.”

[DLConspiracy]

Kind of scary.. Hope they get it together. SONY I mean. It affects everything they do NOT just PS4. Including the music software I use for a living.

[bicfitness]

Read the article? Its the TV buisiness that's killing their profit, movie, cellphones and gaming are all doing quite well. He's turning it around, its just not happening fast enough for some investors. Its all written in the article. No concern trolling is necessary.

[Gazondaily]

"No concern trolling is necessary"

Alright calm down mate. Its not exactly trolling is it? (Hardly on the level of what you do on here).

But yeah, I do agree its a lot of unnecessary gloom and doom from investors.

"“The shocking thing for me was too many excuses,” Renate said. “Sony is really going down.”"

This just sounds like a bit too much panic. I think Sony are recovering from difficult times.

"Sony has lost 85 billion yen ($831 million) since Hirai became CEO in 2012 "

That's A MASSIVE loss so naturally, investors will be panicking but long term, I'm confident Sony will do well. Their PlayStation division alone is set to make a massive profit judging by the incredible momentum it seems to have.

[Volkama]

"with a strong sense of crisis"

^^That is from the CEO of the company.

It is cute that you are more confident, but I don't think the OP is necessarily trolling.

[DLConspiracy]

Trolling? I was genuinely concerned and have been since. I wasn't rude about it. Just because a division is doing well doesn't mean the company as a whole won't have to shift money around from different divisions. In fact their software division could be affected since they are more hardware oriented.

[Gamer1982]

TV is killing them as they charge silly prices for there TVs in which they used to dominate but now companys like SAMSUNG and LG are just as good when it comes to TV technology and quality but a lot cheaper..

[King_many_layers]

Samsung and LG have yet to reach the quality of Sony's top 2012 models. This is a unanimous statement shared majoratively through tech websites and such.

People simply buy into marketing which Sony cannot compete with.

[DigitalHope]

As someone who works in big box retail selling home theater, I can tell you Sony is poised for a comeback in TVs in 2014.

The quality has always been top notch but the value has never been there as Sony TVs always cost way to much. Now they are more competitively priced and since early may when the 2014 line ups came in Sony has been top seller so far. Followec by LG then Samsung.

Things are changing slowly.

[Arkardo]

That is a fact, Sony TV'S are way more quality than Samsung and LG, costs are the problem here, but as others said people buy marketing and cheap prices not quality.

[rdgneoz3]

"Samsung and LG have yet to reach the quality of Sony's top 2012 models."

Sony's TVs are better quality, but some people would rather spend a little less. Hell, you could use the money you'd save from getting a Sony TV and use it towards a larger LG / Samsung TV.

[DigitalHope]

@rdgneoz3

Thats not true anymore. This year Sony TVs are lower cost than comparing models in Samsung. LGs still have a lower cost and better panels than Samsung this year. Really have not liked samsung TVs in 2014. Just their curved TVs.

[Baccra17]

I forget the guys name, but there is an american investor that wishes for Sony to break apart and sell certain assets away, like movies. I wonder if this apology is because that guy is trying to rally everyone again and force Sony to sell off pieces of itself again.

[Kribwalker]

The company as a whole is only worth $17 billion dollars now. Down from over $120 billion. This kind of loss is no longer sustainable

"While investors aren’t calling for Hirai’s job yet, they do want the turnaround to show traction after the company cut its earnings three times last year. Sony is now worth about $17 billion, compared with a market valuation of about $120 billion in 1999."

[Giul_Xainx]

I lost interest in big screen tvs 2 years ago after I bought a beautiful monitor that has In Panel Switching between my computer's input, and my ps3's HDMI input.

I know most console gamers are couch potatoes, but my desktop setup is much better.

[Pogmathoin]

Markets are affected by any kind of negativity news. Hirai is simply trying to allay those fears, but being honest by telling everyone that the waters will be choppy before it calms. Nothing new in any business. Sacrifices were made, and because of other external forces in the world markets, it has taken longer than projected to correct the ship.

[fr0sty]

Sony has taken a beating in the TV market, which is why Kaz chose to spin off the TV business. A wise move I say, as TVs are not anywhere near as profitable of a market as they used to be and there are other name brands that have gained dominance in the market. This sort of restructure isn't done overnight, though investors are chomping at the bit to see results right now.

Is it a crisis for Sony? Most definitely. Is it the end of Sony? Only if they keep the businesses that are bleeding red ink. If they drop their losing interests and stick to the ones making money, they'll be fine.

Microsoft, while not in as dire a position, is also involved in a lot of markets that are draining its blood. The Xbox division has only lost billions, and as a division has never once turned a dime of profit. This is why investors, Bill Gates, and the current CEO have all stated they are open to spinning off Xbox. Microsoft also keeps failing in the mobile market.

Both companies have fat to trim as far as investors go, but only one of them is dealing with investors telling them to make their gaming division part of that fat to trim off.

[Buff1044]

PS4 is doing great, no doubt, but it's still bad news for shareholders. Business is business. I think some of the PS4 fans on this website don't understand this.

[FanboyKilla]

@kribwalker. That cant be true. By your calculations it will be bye bye sony in a matter of years. Or at least sony as we know it.

[Sabo]

Sony's restructuring will help them back to profit after these next waves of losses from TV and PC, which they took care of.

As a gamer I am just so happy to see them doing great with the PlayStation!

[kenshiro100]

You know how some people are bicfitness. Don't even bother.

[iamnsuperman]

I feel Sony need to relook at how they do the TV space. The problem is most people rather have value for money and buy low to mid range TVs since the common man can't really tell except for size. Sony should look into mid range TVs

[saber00005]

Didn't they already sell their TV division?

[Sabo]

^
They did a spin off for the TV business and completely sold the PC biz..

[guitarded77]

Yes, SONY TV's are expensive compared to the competition, but SONY's vision has been to lead through innovation in technology. This has a cost.

What should SONY do? Should they create an affordable line of TV's with less features? Maybe. But they have to do something to keep the TV line going. If it wasn't for SONY in the TV making business, we'd see far less innovation. SONY is a leader there.

I have SONY, Samsung, Toshiba and LG TV's in my home. Honestly, the SONYs have the best, most natural picture, but I don't think they are worth more then the Samsung. SONY really needs to get into that middle market.

[tokugawa]

lol @ frosty desperately needed to inject some microsoft doom and gloom into the comments as well.

i can imagine you moping your brow and taking some deep breathes as well lol

there are some truly pathetic people on here

http://www.forbes.com/compa...

http://www.forbes.com/compa...

that should cheer you up a bit lol

[thorstein]

Yes. I think the TV business needs to take a lesson from the other parts of SONY. I want a SONY TV, but the Samsung is cheaper.

Yes, I want a cheaper SONY TV.

[fenome]

It's defintely their TV market, their prices have been way too high. Just last year their 4K TVs were like $25,000, now they're in the $2,500+ range and they keep emailing me 'deals' for like $1,100 off (on the $3,000+ models anyways).

They've also started releasing cheaper models of LEDs that are more affordable, hell you can get a 40" Sony LED at Walmart right now for $350. Walmart never even used to carry Sony TVs because the price-range was too high, so you can tell that they're working on it.

http://www.walmart.com/sear...

Amputating their computer department should help a lot too, it was just bleeding them out.

[ThroatPunch]

As much as you troll IGN, I disregard your fake concern.

[DLConspiracy]

You consider anyone who sheds a positive light on the xb1 as trolling though. I like both consoles and I have said it hundreds of times. Doesn't change the fact I still use Sony's software to create music.

[truefan1]

Sounds like the CEO is banking on China to help sell ps4's. According to the n4g analyst, consoles won't sell in China. Maybe that was just when it looked like XB1 will the the only console in China for the foreseeable future. China is defintely an interesting dynamic.

[LeCreuset]

I wouldn't bank on China. Fortuantely, FROM THE ARTICLE, it looks like PS4 doesn't need to:

"There are some positives for Hirai as Sony extends its lead in video games and the film unit rebounds.

"The PS4 beat Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Xbox One in U.S. console sales in May, extending its lead for a fifth month, according to Port Washington, New York-based NPD Group Inc. Sony last month took steps toward selling consoles in China, agreeing to form two ventures after the government lifted a 2000 ban on sales of the machines.

“'One senses that Sony is building a solid momentum and a viable ecosystem” around the console, said Amir Anvarzadeh, manager of Japanese equity sales in Singapore at BGC Partners Inc. “Sony is doing many, many things right, not to mention its decision to ignore Mr. Loeb.'”

For all of your implications of N4G pro-Sony bias and hypocrisy it is interesting that when I questioned the mods on why this story about MS http://n4g.com/news/1455378... was failed for the reason "Seriously quit beating a dead horse this belongs on tech spy not n4g," I was told, "The issue is they talk about xbox once but the pieces are over all surface, and other product not about the xbox." Funny, as anyone can click on the failed story and see that its focus was on what recent investor pressure meant for the Xbox division, unlike this story, which has lured you in, which only mentions PS4 briefly.

[fr0sty]

Yeah, the console maker that is moving more consoles and selling more games than any other manufacturer on the planet is banking on China to move more consoles.

Your idiocy blows me away sometimes...

[kenshiro100]

What the heck are you talking about? The PS4 has been selling very well. What does the sales of the PS4 have to do with the article?

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Apologies accepted Sony now come so I can give you guys a hug!

[Volkama]

They were not apologising to you...

[randomass171]

@Volkama He says a lot of strange things. Let him be. :P

[monkey48]

I think he just reads the headlines and Comments. Sony is going to turn it around, if they stop over pricing their TVs and being competitive with Samsung, LG, Panasonic etc they would probably do better. I mean their name as a electronics giant is still big.

[UltraNova]

Sasuke

Are you a Sony shareholder?

No? The apology wasn't towards you mate...;-)

OT: Shareholders only care about instant profits which isn't gonna happen this kind of re-structuring and 'revival' takes a lot of patience and time!

[3-4-5]

Sony.......You obviously have the wrong people in charge of designing and making your High Quality Tv's at a profit.

It can't be that hard to figure out.

Grow a pair, fire that person, and hire somebody from WITHIN who has seen and experienced this failure, and can make a quick adjustment based on EXPERIENCE.

DO NOT bring in another " Money Guy".

All they do is screw things up, take their bonus, and run to the next company to screw them up.

I'm guessing this is how you ended up in this position in the first place.

I hope things work out for them.

[Muzikguy]

I don't understand why it's so hard for companies to realize this! +1 my friend

[zeuanimals]

Most TVs don't cost as much as Sony's to manufacture and TVs don't sell well in general. When most people do buy TVs, which is about every 5 years, they tend to go for the cheaper ones. That means Sony's sells worse than most others because of the high price and because TVs already don't sell well.

If Sony wants to make a profit from the TV division, they're gonna have to drop the quality and make crappy TVs like everyone else. I'd rather they just drop the division because we don't need anymore crappy TV manufacturers.

[xtremeimport]

they need to drop the prices of their tvs.
they're overpriced and its killing them.

[incredibleMULK]

Its too late. With exclusives like ratchet and clank, Jack and Dexter, sly, PS all stars Sony is going down like the titanic. Mouthfart!

This isn't an opinion piece this is news. Best to be like Sega and go third party developer and rake in the bucks from PC Ms, Nintendo android, iOS. Make movies, PS , games and phone and ditch everything else.

Or Sony will die out like kill zone....a popcorn fart.

180 billion to 17 billion??
Ouch.

[GW212]

Aww, you're adorable. Look at you, thinking you have any idea what you're talking about.

[wannabe gamer]

ppl are trolling the OP here OR they are not reading well and comprehending it. he said "it affects everything they do "NOT just PS4"
pretty easy to see that he is concerned that what other divisions of Sony fail at could affect the company overall. Which is correct, but as usual people on N4G just see what they want and then use that to bash people. stop reading into what people are saying and coming up with something other than the words they actually used.

seriously its like the entire audience of commenters here are average age of 14.

[LordDhampire]

Sony just needs to work on marketing their TVs, Most people just by samsung these days.

Many people may not know this but Sony TV's have the lowest input lag around 9-20ms while samsungs have around 50ms creating noticable lag while gaming. Vizios and other offbrands and such are around 30 to 40.

To put this in perspective a gaming monitor for a pc generally has 5ms or lower, 2ms is the gold standard.

[showtimefolks]

people want sony to be fixed over night just like people wanted Obama to fix USA's problems overnight. A company worth 120 billion to now 17 billion, Kaz is doing his best but things will take time.

I think after the PC sale goes through and TV re branding we will see sony get on a more positive road ahead

if i had money i would buy sony outright for 20 billion, and just focus on stuff that's gonna do well. Gaming,Music,Movies and smart phones

[sAVAge_bEaST]

so what do you make your music at? 432hz or 440hz? Very Important Question.

(for those that ARE in the KNOW)

[DLConspiracy]

No frequencies range is safe from my brain.

[randomass171]

Man, that is tough... I'm remaining optimistic though. PS4 practically guarantees a profit for Sony so they will pull through this just fine in the long run.

[ats1992]

Yea the ps4 will bring sony profit but the ps4 cant save them from the situation they are in. It seems they need to look at their other departments and fix them because thats whats dragging them down.

[randomass171]

Pardon the simplicity in my comment. I'm aware it will take more than market share success for Sony to get out of their funk, but the recent downsizing is demonstrating how Sony is taking initiative to deal with these issues and recover promptly.

[Nekroo91]

The ps4 is enough to grow the company 5 to 10% starting in 2016.

If im not mistaken theres 46 million xbox live accounts thats arround 3 billion dollars a year.

Sony will reach that number easily within the ps4 lifecycle, the company will grow and nothing can stop it.

in 2015 it will register a small loss or almost even but starting within the 2016 financial report its going to be positive and it will continnue to grow. Not only due to the playstation but a strategy for the company itself.

The only doubt i have is 2015 because if they launch project morpheus that year it will increase the production costs and i have no idea how much they spent in Research and Development to make that product a sucess

[LeCreuset]

"It seems they need to look at their other departments and fix them because thats whats dragging them down."

Or just do away with them if they can't be fixed. I'm not a Sony fan. I'm a fan of good products. So if they can focus support on their good products by trimming the fat that is their unsalvageable products I'm all for it.

[jackanderson1985]

isn't the PS4 itself selling at a loss? they need software and PS + sales to make it profitable

[PS4isKing_82]

Actually Sony just said last week ps4 is already making a profit.
http://www.polygon.com/2014...

[hello12]

Wasting your time telling Sony fans the basics. They think the PS4 selling well means Sony is doing great. Even though the facts on the ground tell a different story.

E3 was prove they aren't doing great.

The order 1886 was shown at e3 last year.

uncharted we knew it was coming too.

The only triple AAA game Sony had not announced officially and was shown aT E3 was bloodborne.

[MysticStrummer]

@KNWS - Most of us have seen enough of your posts to know that to you "the basics" means fanboy BS and FUD.

@Jack - If by "profitable" you mean what each unit costs to build vs it's selling price, PS4 has been profitable all along. If you add in things like advertising and R&D, it's not, but the same goes for XB1.

OT - It's a good thing for Sony that PS4 is doing so well. Shareholders need good signs to hold onto during a time of restructuring, but their patience will only last so long.

[Magicite]

you are living in the past or simply not informed enough.

[BlackTar187]

Hey KNWS,

What Triple AAA gam edid MS show that we didn't know about or wasn't shown last year or talked about?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SAY HALO REMASTER

[NeverStopGaming]

Right that ship. Sony will come through this. Kaz is making the tough decisions that needed to be made years ago.

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Kaz is a failure as CEO of Sony *opinion
He was great just handling the PlayStation division. I understand this sounds harsh for the majority of ps fans. But it's the truth.
Empty promises and apologies will not make Sony shine as it did before. Shareholders will probably give him another year and if he fails again I'm sure they will ask for his resignation.

[LOL_WUT]

It's mostly the TV division they overprice most of their electronics when the competitions offer a similar product for less. Heres hoping they can turn it around ;)

[ThatOneGuyThere]

Sony makes the only LCD displays I can tolerate. Samsung makes displays that look "good", if you consider "good" a psychedelic mushroom trip. The colors are entirely unnatural.

[F4sterTh4nFTL]

Microsoft should buy Sony and combine Xbox and Playstation and call it Playstation X. That should solve all problems for Microsoft and Sony.

[GarrusVakarian]

Terrible idea.

Competition is needed.

[Kiwi66]

True about competition maybe you should tell that to the people that post on here about how microsoft should sell its xbox division despite doing ok

[BitbyDeath]

Sony is the biggest entertainment business in the world, MS could not afford to buy the entire company.

[MeliMel]

I beg to differ. MS is actually one of the handful of companies that could probably buy Sony outright or atleast own majority stake in company.

[Shane Kim]

You clearly know nothing about business.Sony has a yearly revenue of over 70 billion dollars. The sale price won't be under that unless they face bankruptcy. So MS won't be buying anything.

[KinjoTakemura]

@MeliMel
"I beg to differ. MS is actually one of the handful of companies that could probably buy Sony outright or atleast own majority stake in company."

Sony World Wide has assets in excess of 145 billion dollars. Do some research before you post.

[WilDRangeRrfc]

WTF are you serious Sony are only worth 16 Billion alltogether MS made 20 Billion in 3 months,you are deluded my friend MS>Sony

[BitbyDeath]

@ranger, they'd also need to buy all the assets, patent rights, ip's etc etc. It adds up and would likely cost over a trillion dollars to purchase everything.

MS are rich in money, Sony are rich in assets. Wouldn't be surprised if James Bond rights alone would cost a few billion.

[Hellsvacancy]

"Getta the hell outta here"

[Zero-One]

As fascinating as it sounds, Lukas_Japonicus is right. Not even Nintendo could handle the competition then.

[JBSleek]

MS wouldn't want to buy Sony. Maybe a section of it but no way MS would know what to do with all of Sony.

MS is a software company.

[IcicleTrepan]

Please explain all of the hardware they make and sell then.

[JBSleek]

"Please explain all of the hardware they make and sell then."

They only make Xbox and Surface. You act as if they make the actual computers or monitors.

Xbox was a play to get the living room and surface was meant as a reference device to show OEMs what you can do with Windows 8

[blackout]

Check out the reserve cash Microsoft has. They could buy Sony twice. But the only thing worth buying is the Playststion brand and the insurance company everything else is worth trash.

[blackout]

Microsoft turns profits every year. They don't need Playstation. Tell Sony to call Nintindo.

[dboyman]

Sony and Nintendo should merge instead. They are both Japanese companies. The new merged company would be call Sonindo..

Err what am I saying, that may be a bad idea, look what happened when Square merged with Enix. That hasn't turned out too well. Need keep the competition going for the best value for gamers

[Flutterby]

Why would you want a company that fails at gaming to buy playstation ? All MS would do is bring the playstation name down into the mud where the Xbox is now.

[Mr-Dude]

It's funny that the submitter posts a lot of these articles... Like the reddragon carbage...

Ontopic: I believe they will come trough. It will be hard, but then the sales of the PS4 speak for them selfs. They are making hard decisions now, that lead up to fruity perks in the future

[Mr-Dude]

*double post*

[Silly gameAr]

Figured after NPD, these articles would start showing up soon.

[hello12]

Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai apologized to investors after the company forecast a sixth loss in seven years,

This is a fake news story, created by x box fans?

[Silly gameAr]

"This is a fake news story, created by x box fans?"

You said that. Not me.

[Spotie]

Rather, it's an article with precious little to do with gaming.

Of course, no Xbox fan will admit that; from the very first comment, you can see them spreading the FUD like peanut butter on bread.

[Soldierone]

I don't understand why they still grip the damn TV market if it's losing so much money. It isn't like PlayStation, it won't just randomly start making money.... it has been costing them ever since the end of the PS2 era.....

Just dump it, stick to high end ones, and come back when the economy doesn't suck so bad.

[shivvy24]

^ exactly, dump whats pulling them down and when they are in a healthier position slowly bring it back or something

[iceman06]

That's pretty much part of the strategy at this point. They are planning to rely on the 4K tv's, while attempting to be more competitive in pricing with the others. I'm sure this means that they will be axing some of the more risky features and components in those in order to remain more competitive. The VAIO was a HUGE cash black hole. It has since been disposed of. They really just need to see how the cuts and revisions that they made will change their earnings.

[JBSleek]

Or just make cheaper TV's that compete.

[Shane Kim]

I think it's too much pride involved to just dump it. However they should resize it to be much smaller than what it is today.

[rainslacker]

There's a lot of potential revenue in the TV market. It's also traditionally been one of their most recognizable mass market products. Giving it up means giving up mind share and the actual value of Sony's name going down even more.

Sony just needs to find that balance of quality vs. price, and compete with it. They can't rely on their quality anymore, since their competition is offering good quality(wouldn't claim as good as Sony), but with a substantially lower price.

When I went shopping for a TV, I really loved the Sony display. Very crisp and clean, with extremely vibrant colors. But the price for an Insignia with a larger screen that still offered a picture I could accept was substantially lower...by about half. If it hadn't been that TV, I would have gotten the Samsung which cost a bit more, but to me had a similar picture quality. That's the issue that's facing Sony's TV division right now. The value of the competition is just greater, and the majority of people care more about their wallet than the quality of the picture.

I've had good experiences with Sony products overall the past few decades, but outside their TV and gaming divisions, I can't say that their quality is high enough to warrant the prices they ask for. Their receivers are good entry level for those just wanting nicer sound. They make decent consumer level headphones. Their speakers, while loud, lack the actual fidelity of similarly priced lesser known brands, and certainly aren't as good as somewhat to vastly more expensive specialty brands. I felt their Vaio line of computers just felt kind of cheap. I think because of all these reasons, Sony isn't really a first name to think of when it comes to those kinds of products.

[SITH]

"The company is targeting sales of 50 million smartphones this fiscal year, compared with 39.1 million the year before."

I do not see that happening with a new competitor in the smartphone market. Amazon's new phone is total hotness. But looks can be deceiving. I doubt it will do well against the two smartphone leaders, samsung and apple. Even veteran phone makers are struggling against them. Ex. Sony.

Sony will have to cut a lot of fat otherwise those bankruptcy predictions are going to come true.

[plmkoh]

$649 outright is a tough sell on last years phone specs. At that price you can already get any of the latest big brand phones and we haven't even considered preference of OS platform.

[WeAreLegion]

Amazon's new phone is a joke. Everything it does, Android already does.

And NOBODY is going to buy their apps again just for an Amazon phone.

No. I love Amazon, but that phone is going to flop. Hard.

[Flutterby]

I haven't even heard amazon where making a phone so I can't imagine it's gonna be that big. A lot of countries don't even have amazon and probably haven't even heard if them.

[dragonopt1]

I think it's cause most people buy cheaper HDTVs now if you go to walmart or
Costco you can get a $400-600 one and in this economy more people will go for those.
Don't know why I got a disagree lol, it's true. If the average family walks by a display and sees they can get a 40-47 inch for that cheap they are. Most people aren't tech geeks like us and will buy a shitty Vizio instead.

[MeliMel]

I dont think thats it because you can buy a Sony TV in same price range. Plus places like Costco sell alot of older models and thats why we get cheap prices.

[shivvy24]

yep exactly, these days a lot of people don't care like the casual market. They will buy cheap vizio/medion models. heck ive seen 50" worth $500-$600.

[rainslacker]

Really depends on what the person is looking for. People looking for the best possible picture and features will often assign themselves a budget. Then look for the most bang for their buck in that budget. Unfortunately, for Sony, more often than not, their TV's will be priced outside that budget. It's possible to get a discontinued model of a Sony display at a good price but that requires being in the right place at the right time, and in those situations, Sony is not profiting as much off of it...if at all.

I do agree with you though. For the most part, people are uninformed on what they're buying when it comes to a TV. Spending an extra $50-100 can often give them a much more enjoyable experience over the long term. The impulse of spending $400 on a TV though is much greater if it looks like a good bargain at time of purchase. Not many people would drop $1-2K on a TV on a whim. Sony does have it's cheaper models out there, but they tend to be smaller screens for the price...and sadly, screen size is the number one factor in most TV purchases nowadays.

I know when I went to buy a new TV, I said I'd spend $800 on it. I ended up getting a $500 TV that was decent enough, despite the $800 TV having more features, and a better picture quality. In the end, I went for a decent picture, and bigger screen size. I don't really regret it, but there are times I wish I had a nicer picture when playing some games...particularly ones with a lot of dark environments.

[Flutterby]

I bought a really cheap lcd TV once and after that experience never again, only quality TVs for me from now on.

[MeliMel]

Sony should just stick to entertainment. Games, movies, music. Its time shelf TV business. Tho it must be hard when Sony helped make the TV business what it is today. There must be some very Prideful people still hoping it will turn around.

[joeorc]

Its the sheer number of employed japanese people they employ. Sony has over 138,000 people that work at sony, most are in the consumer electronics. There is a very good over 78,000 people+, that Sony wants to make sure they have done everything they can do to save as many of those jobs as they can!

[Stoppokingme]

Sony need to make more affordable TVs, they don't have the big technological edge over the competitors anymore and they can't compete with cheaper alternatives.

My TV cost under 700 dollars with a three year warranty, the same size Samsung was 1000 dollars, and the same size Bravia? over 2000 dollars even though all three had the same res and refresh rate as the others.

The playstation brand is their strongest asset and if this deal with China plays out then that's going to help a lot.

[shivvy24]

they should just drop it and come back when they are in a better position

[rainslacker]

Hmmm...I dunno. I think Sony Bravia's picture quality is way above Samsung. The colors are just much deeper and crisper. I also imagine that $2K TV had a lot of inputs, and likely a lot of ancillary features that help with upscaling or something that people don't even know about when buying a new TV.

Not saying you're wrong though. Samsung's picture quality is really good. Even the smaller brands have a really good picture quality nowadays, although usually less features or abilities to adjust the picture. It's also hard to say that a majority of people would see it worth spending another $1000 for the features that Sony puts into it's Bravia line. Really good picture for $1000, or slightly better picture for $2000. The picture is all that matters. Even refresh rates aren't that big a deal to most consumers.

[WeAreLegion]

If Sony ever leaves gaming, I'll leave gaming.

[shivvy24]

lol

[urwifeminder]

I will miss you that's for sure , maybe I can play extra for you consider a PC ,Xbox or the mighty Nintendo I recommend any of these if Sony can not turn it around.

[WeAreLegion]

I have a gaming PC and Wii U already though. And I'm getting an Xbox One this fall for Sunset Overdrive. (And Quantum Break, in the future.)

[KinjoTakemura]

So how exactly does Sony restructuring the electronics division have anything what so ever to do with the reality that the Playstation 4 is mopping the floor with the Xbox One in hardware and software sales? No matter how many doom and gloom articles are posted about Sonys' "imaginary imminent" financial collapse, they will not change the fact that the Playstation 4 is highly profitable and more successful than the Microsoft's microwave oven that's impersonating a gaming console.

Now watch the Xbox One fanboys come to the rescue.

[Mrtemper]

I think you need to come back to reality, this article is about Sony as a whole.

[KinjoTakemura]

This website is about gaming. This section is about playstation 4. Now please explain how Sony restructuring it's electronics division (HDTVs, Phones, Blu-ray, ect.) is relevant to gaming or the Playstation 4's continued success in hardware and software sales over the Xbox One.
Thank you and good day.

[joeorc]

What he is getting at is Sony's

SCEJ,SCEA,SCEE are part of a LLC thus its a Already a subsidiary corp. Thats why you cannot buy any stock, its not a public IPO in other words even if Sony were to file for bankruptcy you can bet everything else would in fact get liquidated aside from their entertainment arm, smart devices under sony mobile.

And the CMOS production plants all the parts of the company that has no buy in. In other words Playstation would still run as it does, because it already is run separate company because is already a subsidiary.

[blackout]

No rescue just enjoy your Indies. Cause they don't have the money for anything else.

[Convas]

Damage control has entered the ring!

[BillmadeAGate]

Sony tv's suck.. Samsung definitely has the best tv's now... Sony movies are awesome tho.. Spider-Man 2/The Equalizer/Lucy an that's not even half of the movies they released this year..

[mixelon]

Sony TVs are very highly regarded when it comes to things like picture quality.

Picture quality is kinda important. More important than half the crap people argue about on here anyway.

[BillmadeAGate]

Have you ever owned a samsung 55" 4k tv ? You will totally never want any other crappy tv.

[mixelon]

@BillMadeAGate No, have you ever owned a Sony 55" 4k TV?

As if owning something makes one uniquely qualified.

[rainslacker]

No, Sony Bravia mops the floor with Samsung on picture quality and features in their TV's. I've seen them side by side in a Home Theater shop. Spent 30 minutes watching a movie being displayed on both. And the Sony one shows a hell of a lot more detail, and is a lot brighter. To get the same brightness from a Samsung, you have to turn it up, which washes out the colors. When both are properly calibrated, Samsung is nowhere near as good as Sony's TV's.

Samsung, however, does make high quality displays that are worth getting if you're in the market for a high quality TV. Samsung is also cheaper.

For the most part, people buy the biggest TV, with the best picture quality that fits their budget. Very few people are willing to buy a slightly smaller display with a better picture quality. Unfortunately for Sony...and sometimes Samsung, those people's budgets are less than the cost of the TV's they're selling.

Sony TV's also tend to last longer. Samsung TV's...not so much.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Sony TVs are still some of the best on the market. Haters gonna hate. They just can't compete with Korean brands which are subsidized by the Korean government.

The bigger story is why there were no 1st party PS4 games at E3 and why where were no retail Vita titles at the same event. I'm not going to spell it out for you. Just figure it out yourself.

Also, some friends and I were just talking about how Sony announced that you can transfer your save data from GTA V last gen to GTA V next gen as if this feature was only available on the PS4, when it's not. They really were desperate for something extra to fill out a lack luster E3 conference, and to make another pathetic jab at their competitors. A jab based on a lie.

There's some other big stuff, but I'm not sure I should mention it here.

Kaz is doing his best. I'll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

[Mrtemper]

Lol I didn't even watch the show and I know UC4 and Bloodborne were there..

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Uncharted 4 is a long way off and wasn't available in playable form. Bloodborne is a title made by From Software. It's definitely going to be a great game but the only people talking about it are die hard Sony fans. No traction after the event.

[ScorpianusNoir]

>>Also, some friends and I were just talking about how Sony announced that you can transfer your save data from GTA V last gen to GTA V next gen as if this feature was only available on the PS4, when it's not.<<
----------------------------- ------------------------
I have read that you have a bias against the Sony E3 showing so you must have been holding your breath, covering your ears and screaming lalalala, when they mentioned that you can also upload the XBox 360 saves to the PS4, for GTA Online. That was the reason for the announcement.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

You've read wrong. As my name implies I own every console of the last gen and the new gen. Only fanboys with mindless brand loyalty would take offense to my comments, especially to the point where they needed to resort to childish insults. That's just sad. That's the sort of thing a single console owning fanboy does when they have purchase justification issues.

Its great to be able to discuss the realities of the gaming industry without having to tow any company line or mindlessly repeat any corporate PR.

tl:dr - the feature you mentioned will be available on other systems. Why does that bother you so much? Oh that's right....

@Joeorc, what the hell are you talking about? Were not discussing buy outs. Besides no one is going to buy the playstation brand. Any company looking to get into gaming would want to create their own gaming brand.

[ScorpianusNoir]

@MultiConsoleGamer,
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
You go out of your way, quite often, to tell everyone how, above it all, you are. You assert your worth by crowing about having all of the consoles as though that somehow makes you better than any one who doesn't, which is ridiculous. Your willingness and ability to spend thousands of dollars on your hobby does not give you any insight into gaming. There are many gamers who have multiple consoles but that doesn't mean that they don't favor one above the others.
I have a PS4 and have no intention of getting a X1 because their exclusives are not to my liking. If you think that makes me a fanboy, then good on you but that is only in your mind.

[joeorc]

@MultiConsoleGamer

Stop it I am again pointing out to you because Sonys playstation is a LLC is not a public buy in Sony will not sell it, on top of that Playstation or SCEJ has the 1st option to buy off of Sony any and all privately held stock certificates before any one else would even get a chance to see this part of the entertainment go public.

You cannot buy into playstation because no stock is for public buy in.
This FUD you and others keep trying to pass off as a viable outcome is not only wishful thinking its downright a Myth.

Playstation is a SUBSIDIARY! With all stock ownership being 100% owned Sony.

Give it up

And it always ends up with many gamer talking about sony getting bought out and what ever company taking over playstation and the entertainment arm of Sony. Come lil fella you have and others been implying that for years now.
LMAO.

Its not happening, no matter how much you and others are wishing for it on a star to happen. Even in your past posts you even said as much about another company coming in and buying up PlayStation.

Lets visit the recent past

http://n4g.com/news/1514889...

You are not fooling anyone

[04STIBluByU]

Must have forgot about Media Molecule (LBP3) and Ready at Dawn (The Order). I was at the movie theater in FL for the E3 event.

[joeorc]

@MultiConsoleGamer

Your past shows very clear in what you are implying

http://n4g.com/news/1514889...

Playstation part of the corp is already a subsidiary!

Its already separate!
You even made the claim in order for Sony to save playstation Sony would have to spin it off, when already its separate anyways so why would Sony have to spin off a Subsidiary?

You are and others are implying Sony does not have enough Money to make more 1st party games for the PS4 and thats not what yoshida said!

Again as a Subsidiary Sony already operates playstation ie SCEA, SCEJ ETC. AS THEY ARE SEPERATE! Because thats alteady what it is.

[rainslacker]

I don't think subsidiary and spin-offs are the same thing. I may be wrong though.

From my understanding, a subsidiary is a privately held part of the company with no public buy-in, that operates somewhat autonomously from the parent. It's revenues, losses and profits will show up on the parent companies financials.

A spin-off would make that division a wholly independent company, possibly with a public buy-in, but could still work in tandem with the "parent" company if it so desires. All of it's revenue and expenditures would not show up on the parent companies financials.

This is why some MS investors and analyst want a spin off of the Xbox division. So it's financials don't weigh down the financials of the rest of MS...thus increasing the values of the share.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[joeorc]

A subsidiary is separate it is by default a separate company, it has its own board of Directors just like a parent or holding company does
As a matter of fact its also a LLC!

See check it out

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w...

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I hope Sony does stabilize. Its a great brand and the ps4 is definitely a beacon of light in an otherwise dreary situation.

[lemoncake]

Once they finally turn around and make a profit then starts the hard work of making a sizable year on year profit every year that will satisy investors.

[amnalehu]

Sony totally missed the boat with the walkman. They already had an entire market cornered for 2 generations and they failed to capitalize on it. Now most people have never even heard of a walkman.

They are a national and international icon but in some way they need to re-invent themselves or go back to making simple innovative products that consumers want.

[D-riders]

I think they will be fine this year. Their isn't much for Xmas this year unless morphed drops. Other wise why not upgrade to a 4G they will be on sale for 2500 at black friday. And since Panoz is on them it makes sense for gamers to get a Sony TV over the competition

[Killzoner99]

More Sony doom and gloom articles huh N4G ? Well I hate to break it to you trolls out there but Sony isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The PS4 is the #1 console in the world. Do you really think the company that makes the #1 console in the world is going to go out of business lol? I don't know why there has been such an influx of negative Sony articles lately but I think the powers that be *cough [Microsoft] aren't happy with Sony's recent success and feel they need to tarnish the image of the Playstation brand.The smart ones would never fall for such a ploy but I have a feeling most of the people here wouldn't fall under the "smart" category. Oh well , the real gamers no who's king. Long Live Play

[Gamer666]

Sony has plenty of cash and patents. There is no way it will go out of business...

They have 10s of billions in the bank... Companies with that much cash on hand cannot go bankrupt.

[TimeSkipLuffy]

For me they are currently going the wrong direction with the PS4. VR, PS Now. I am one of many who rather want them to spent their time, money and effort in releasing big exclusive games. Not to say that there are of course gamers who want to pay high prices for PS Now or get into VR for some games.

The camera department only pushes one camera then another one then another one with no support of great glasses and no specific roadmap for the future... just a mess even if some of the products are great.

I don't know... but I hope they do the best because I love PlayStation and I like their cameras. PlayStation will probably always be my favorite place to play despite their horrible decision and customer relation and service (at least for me)

[breakpad]

if Sony will not change strategy and make a "turn to quality no matter the price" and support their homeland industry( japan) in all their products(from games to their televisions) ...the will bankrupt for sure...

[kenshiro100]

Kaz is a smart man and I believe he'll turn things around for Sony. The investor worries are troubling but if anything, they'll get through this.

I'm not going to sit around and pretend I know anything about what's going on behind closed doors like some people here.

[GW212]

Jesus, can we please stop putting finance articles on this site? The lack of knowledge on this comment board regarding what is actually going on at Sony is pretty ridiculous.

It's obvious there are a bunch of kids on this site and to bombard them with stuff that flies WAY over their head is pretty silly.

[tommygunzII]

I think Sony has been making great decisions lately but unfortunately the investors are running out of patience. Kaz is turning the company around the proper way for the long run but short term results is what the shareholders need. :\

[Gamer666]

After 7 years and losing money most of that time, if you were a shareholder you probably wouldn't have any patience left neither.

And honestly, I don't see sony's plan to reverse its loses. PS is doing well, but TVs are bleeding red ink, and their music and movie busy is not doing as good as it should be.

[CuddlyREDRUM]

Restructing for growth is layoffs, now.

[GNCLYFER]

Oh my, look who submitted this lol. The red dragon, red with anger after NPD.

[DVAcme]

There's always growing pains when you do something as drastic and all-encompassing as restructuring, but the Playstation brand will come out strong from this. Slow and steady, Sony will get rid of all the divisions that are dead weight around their neck and come out on top, and we gamers stand to win from this.

And as always, classy Kaz is classy.