Sony Corp., the Japanese electronics and entertainment company, is headed in the right direction although its comeback is not yet complete, its chief executive said Thursday.
Kazuo Hirai told reporters that Sony is now more nimble and focused under his leadership which began nine months ago. Sony has lost money for the past four years, and has fallen behind powerful rivals such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in profitability and innovation.
Hirai acknowledged Sony had gotten bogged down in its sprawling bureaucracy, and stressed he is making a point of personal involvement in product development to make sure good ideas don't get squelched.
"I'm shepherding several of those projects personally myself to make sure that it doesn't get held up in the bureaucracy, or it doesn't suddenly fade away in the approval process," he said at Tokyo headquarters.
Like other Japanese electronics makers, Sony is taking a beating from Chinese, Taiwan and South Korean rivals that offer products at much cheaper prices. Hirai said Sony will target customers willing to pay more and won't get sucked into a price war.
The make of Bravia TVs and PlayStation 3 game machines reports earnings next month for last year's final quarter. The numbers are expected to highlight a Sony midway through its recovery.
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He's sped up the company and he's drifting around the difficult turns. Ridge Racer has taught him well.
next gen starts when ps4 is here.
"To me, it seems Hirai has really kicked the ball out of the park."
I think you meant to say hit the ball out of the park. LOL! kicking the ball out of the park wouldn't go to well in soccer:-p
anyways, I don't mind paying a little extra for Sony products just as long as the quality is still high.
N4G is going to be a cesspool when next gen rolls around if people are already acting like this.
I think most of the disagrees came cause the thread had nothing to do with xbox and everything to do with sony. So don't take it personal. The ones who agreed like myself probably enjoy both sony and ms systems. That being said when your in a all sony thread better to keep anything ms out.
Maybe because those kind of comments are inflammatory? We know very little of what's happening next gen and what the exact specs of either console are, yet we have people already acting as one console makes the other obsolete. People have such a major axe to grind, and they don't even try to hide it. Most rumours (if they are of any use) point to these two consoles being very close and advantageous in their own rights, yet "next gen starts when and only when PS4 arrives".
Probably because almost every article has at least one person who feels the need to sidetrack a topic into something else. This topic for example is about Sony rebounding from years of losses to one person who has to put up the home team flag and wave it around while downplaying the competition.
If you don't think this place is a cesspool of fans continually backing one platform/company over another then you must be in private chats all day long.
"next gen starts when ps4 is here. "
43 agrees, 20 disagrees
"And when 720 is here to."
16 agrees and 45 disagrees.
Anyone else see a problem here? AngeliclceDiamond didn't even suggest the 720 was the system to start it, just to be part of the next gen and still got totally outnumbered.
@MikeMyers - No. It's called having a different opinion. Try not to take it personally.
The 720 will be part of next gen saying it isn't because you're a sony goggle wearing fanboy just shows how ignorant you are that you disagree with facts.
This website is already ruined by people who obsess over one console and its made even worse when people are too stupid to see they are doing it.
When you read through the comments and sift through the stupid articles of the greatness of one console and the failures of the other you just see how truly pathetic gamers have become.
Millions of people buy COD, On this site they are all stupid, Millions of people pay for LIVE on this site they are all retards wasting their money.
Its just bias followed by more bias.
@Poet215
You have just listed to users who are no longer on the site, then brought up comments from different people 7 years ago.
So great arguement.
I was around. I was also around on other sites, and also around last gen when Xbox was relentlessly laughed at for even existing, way before N4G even existed. What does any of that have anything to do with this? I don't get why people hold grudges based on what some trolls on this site said earlier in the gen as if that justifies your turn at doing the same.
What makes it true? It's as equally silly as "next gen starts when 720 is here", it only shows that people are incredibly spiteful even without any real evidence to back anything up. People have already made up their minds, and that's fine, but to then try to act as if their console alone is all that matters shows how deep rooted people's agendas are.
PS4 comment 57 agree/30dis.
720 comment 24 agree/ 58 dis.
Whats the matter fanboys no games to play this holiday???
ONE OF US ONE OF US SONY DONT CARE ABOUT ANY OF US
'What makes it true? It's as equally silly as "next gen starts when 720 is here", it only shows that people are incredibly spiteful even without any real evidence to back anything up. People have already made up their minds, and that's fine, but to then try to act as if their console alone is all that matters shows how deep rooted people's agendas are.'
Well said Alpha
But see YOU are allowed to say these things while others cannot.
I lost a bubble yesterday for simply saying..
'Lol @ the same old troll attempts for EVERY single MS ad from the same people.'
And then moved onto the topic and that was simply an announcement for an Xbox arcade game that got trolled to death.
' http://n4g.com/news/1156003...
But what Alpha is insinuating is a daily event on N4G.com, but I had I made the same quote as Alpha in this article I would have lost two more bubbles..lol
As for the topic..
I think Sony is definately in a better place than they were last year this time.
It's good as a PS3 owner myself some big exclusives finally coming around that's generating some excitement.
But, if it really plays out like it should I believe that the PS4 official announcement will be where they as a company finally get the ball rolling in the right direction.
I think is going to be some really fun times for gamers this year, but I think the same ol' rhetoric will unfortunately win out the day.
Evil
Once we get 90% of the media saying Sony wins and Nextbox is doomed call me. Until then there is no way the grudge can be settled or evened out. If you were her you know how bad it was. Nobody cares about fanboys. This thing became a war because of the media propaganda imo. That's why I was caught up on it anyway. The double standards and the flip flopping from the daily fanboys didn't help either.
"N4G is going to be a cesspool when next gen rolls around if people are already acting like this."
Is going to be? The elimination of the zones turned this place into a cesspool ages ago. That and allowing any thrown together blog to pass itself off as gaming media. Which is why I am basically a ghost here now and have been for the past year or so. I LOVE gaming but have no tolerance for rhetorical nonsense from fanboys.
How many us vs them, pass or fail, most disappointing over hyped repetitive yadda yadda articles can one site allow?
I can't wait for the next generation to get here. IMO it's overdue. I hope Sony shoots for the stars. It will only be good for us gamers (competition keeps us moving forward).
"No. It's called having a different opinion. Try not to take it personally. "
An opinion is saying you think one will do better than the other or you will buy one over the other because of whatever reason. Disagreeing that when the 720 comes out will be part of next gen but only agreeing the PS4 will be isn't an opinion, it's stupidity. How can one be part of next generation and the other not?
I don't work for either company and I am eagerly anticipating each system and what each offers. Why would I say something as dumb as one being next gen and then disagree with someone that says next gen also includes the 720? What are we, a bunch of children? So no, I didn't take it personal, I just found it odd how that got so many disagrees.
I'm getting worried,I just hope sony doesnt do anything crazy with the ps4 price :S
As soon as next gen is here N4G will be a Fanboy warzone and we'll all be losing bubbles!!:(
@Haha123
Not making money is not the same as not making a profit. Companies posting losses years in a row are not completely unusual in the tech-industry, where you have to invest to stay ahead.
Really sad you have to stoop that low to mock the fact that people lost their jobs.
dude thank god you dont own your own business
Sony's main problem was that they did not evolve with the times and stayed old school for too long.
Look Apple...they hit it big with the iPod and continued to hold that trend and keep popular with the kids, teens and old people.
Even Samsung evolved and became part of pop culture.
Sony making a comeback has more to do with Sony as a whole than just the play station division. Like what was said Sony needs to make electronics that will attract the masses (not just psx). Nintendo only has videogames. Sony does electronics. Old school Sony had the portable music dominance. Yet today they get owned by Apple and Samsung. I hope the Ps4 does well. I am glad they won't go the low end route and start making cheap products. Have anyone of you bought headphones from a dollar store? (Just awful)
" LOL! kicking the ball out of the park wouldn't go to well in soccer:-p"That would be good in kickball. u lose.
TV division for Sony has lost money 8 years In a row so that has to be fixed.
Also this is why VIta has not gotten a price drop, why give it a pre drop and maybe sell few million more nuts but also loose money in the process when you can sell 2-3 million less but actually make a profit.
Expect PS4 from day one to make a profit
Expect PS4 to be at the most $450 and at the least $399-349
I know after ps3 that may sound like a down grade but neither Sony nor MS want to over price and not be able to compete with wii-u.
I would buy the ps4 at $500-600 but I don't see that happening ever again. That's why when steambox gets priced around $800-1000 it won't do well compare to consoles because you won't have people going into bestbuy and buying that over the other 3 consoles which will cost a lot less and offer exclusives that steambox won't get
The company needs a kick up the ass and luckily Kaz is trusted more than Stringer because he's not Welsh. But he shares many of the same philosophies.
And with the foreign exchange rates stabilizing and projected to continue, this should help mitigate the losses due to selling to the US and Europe. At one point after the market crash, the yen was up 25% compared to the Euro and US dollar. So for every dollar spent overseas, Sony was losing 25% revenue compared to the year prior. That's huge.
Part of the problem has also been Sony's reluctance to outsource development outside of Japan to cheaper asian markets to the degree of their competition. In staying loyal to their Japanese workers, they weakened their position due to the costs of doing business in Japan. They've started outsourcing the past few years finally, which is good for the company in order to stay competitive, but you've got to feel a bit sorry for them losing that particular battle. No one likes to see a company forced to outsource, but that's the global marketplace for ya.
Another issue with being as large as Sony, after time you tend to become bloated, with your hands in too many things. They've also come a long way in terms of focusing their product offering, and there's still much to be done. Sometimes you have to contract to expand.
Ultimately though, they have to be happy with how the PS3 performed last year compared to it's competition. The entire industry was down but PS3 sales and software managed to more or less keep pace with the year prior (from what we saw reported Jan-Sept) while their competition saw year over year sales fall by almost half.
Hitting the 70 million milestone and, if industry reports are correct, ultimately taking second place globally despite being nearly 9 million consoles behind the 360 after their first holiday season just proves that despite the PS3's higher price point, demand has always been there. I never understood that myth that the PS3 botched it's launch or got off to a slow start that we hear parroted so often in the media despite numbers showing otherwise. Sales of the PS3 may have been on pace with the PS2 at the start, but the worst recession in a generation tends to put a bit of a damper on sales when you're the most expensive console on the market, and the PS2 dropped below $199 so quickly you really can't compare sales of the two. Given the market and economic environment, I'm honestly surprised the PS3 sold as well as it has, and continues to sell even 6 years in.
I wish Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo the best of luck leading into the next gen. Hell, here's hoping the next few years are more profitable for everyone in the industry.
Edit: Kinda puzzled by the disagrees. Everything I mentioned is easily verified with a simple google search. If you want to offer a counter point, feel free to hit me up on PM (only one bubble for years so can't really talk here). I'm always up for a spirited debate about the gaming industry. Cheers!
An example is, if you cut cost in R&D, your company will no longer have as much research to draw new products from in the future.
Also firing 10,000 people in 2012 is no small matter in saving costs helping reduce that loss per share.
Sony's problem is they always over price their products compared to the competition, and they still continue to do so.
Sony's biggest problem still isn't solved, which is their TV division. What about Sony's TVs will make me buy them over a Samsung?
I'm looking for a TV myself now, and a Samsung is still hand over fist the better value. In fact, in almost all sectors Samsung is hands over fist the better product at a better price.
Until I start seeing that change, there isn't a real recovery, but rather a company that props up their financial statistics by cutting cost (maybe in crucial areas). Expect major losses going into the release of PS4, so I hope Sony has the cash for it.
Just make sure you let us all know when you think Sony's is on the right track. Call them up and tell them that they need to outsource all their jobs to Mexico or China to make their prices go down. Isn't that the same Sh!t that goin on in the U.S.
Change takes time and doesn't happen overnight. Kaz has been the head for how long...9 months..if you can do better please apply for the position and show us how its done.
Their TV's are of a higher quality than Samsung/Sharp/etc and last longer. You go out and buy a cheap product, you end up with a cheap product. Samsung TVs and Tablets are garbage. The only quality coming from Samsung is the GS3 which is the best phone on the market right now.
I'm sorry to disappoint you, but my personal experience has been excellent with TVs like Sharp, Samsung and even Vizio (relative to price).
However my Sony TV was way overpriced, and didn't support the correct resolutions for my VGA connection. My cheaper Sharp TV did. This is just some examples of why I don't want a Sony TV. Some aspects are good, but they often lack things others offer for less.
Things like this, with widespread poor 3D support on their TVs (crosstalk on a number of lines of Sony TV) while Sony is pushing 3D as a leader doesn't help either:
http://www.consumeractiongr...
From where I'm standing, it looks like Sony TVs are crap. It used to be that Sony Trinitron TVs where great, but the glory days are over.
Show me great products at reasonable prices and the *real* recovery will commmence instead of financial statistics gymnastics.
They estimate 10k (or 6% of Sony's workforce) being cut from the point that the article was made through 2013. Not just in 2012. It's a long term estimate of the jobs they'll have to cut, not how many they cut in 2012, which is far from correct.
Samsung uses cheap capacitors in they're tvs. Only the high end models have quality components.
http://www.samsung.com/us/c...
Even after that still using cheap capacitors.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2...
http://www.dailytech.com/Sa...
Electronics with lower quality capacitors might look the same as one using higer quality caps but tend to not last long or have problems. If you look at high quality pc motherboards or power supplies they usually list "made with high quality japanese capacitors" in their features.
And what kills me is how many complain and say Sony TV's are crap when Samsung makes the screens for them l have a 45in lcd bravia that smokes my 32in led Samsung (this TV is crap from the sound to the picture ) my 32in old heavy flat screen bravia smokes this TV the sound and picture of sony's TVs are unrivaled Sony,panasonic and sharp makes the best TVs pound for pound and they are all from Japanese corps
And BTW Sony is a founder of bluray
Sony owns the most patents for bluray discs
While Panasonic owns most for blu ray players etc.
I can tell by the way you typed that you felt offended. I wasn't knocking Sony as I've owned plenty sony products. My opinion is mine and mine only. My Panasonic Viera is way better than. Any sony tv I've owned. But you should have done some more research before you tried to comment on this. From your comment your obviously a Sony bot. I'm sorry for lenghty post/reply but I didn't know how to link to this site. Still read up and get abetter understanding of what I'm talking about.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is the industry consortium that develops and licenses Blu-ray Disc technology and is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc. The BDA is divided into three levels of membership: the Board of Directors, Contributors, and General Members. [1]
The "Blu-ray Disc founder group" was started on May 20, 2002 by MIT and nine leading electronic companies: Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung. [2] In order to enable more companies to participate, it announced in May 2004 that it would form the Blu-ray Disc Association, which was inaugurated on October 4, 2004.
Sony at CES was actually impressive only really upstaged by Nvidia and that isn't really fair because the Tegra 4 is a real beast.
Also their new 10 inch and 7inch tablets are the best in class right now when they launch especially that 10 inch Tegra 4 beast and they made some really good phones coming internationally.
Then their all in ones and laptops are bloat free meaning that they run smoothly and are some of the most eye pleasing devices.
Sony is a good brand but just because they have the brand doesn't mean they have been bringing it. These smaller companies are really coming up and showing how to do it.
I would like to see Microsoft fail if anyone cus they are the newbs of the industry and THEY replaced Sega who were much more entertaining and imaginative than MS.
Things are definitely looking better for sony and the PS4 could be just what they need to help bring bring back some profits. They will have their hands full dealing with Samsung and Apple though. Now they have to deal with a 3 way split gaming market and their first priority should be making a profit. Kaz should be able to accomplish this with his experience.
umm dude, microsoft was one of the reasons why sony lagged. it kicked them in the head. competition made them wake up. so why do you want to hope to see a company fail?
Sony had to sell their Tokyo building to fund the restructure of the company, they had to fire 10k people, they closed 3 gaming studios and they received a junk-rating. I doubt that was part of the big masterplan.
The irony is, that I think (and the market as well) Sony needs even more drastic actions.
I hope they focus on ps4 only and not over pwiced tvs and over pwiced ps vita and its subpar games.
It's really sad that people are are so desperate to see a company fail that they have to get on as if a company laying off workers and cutting back on some things is the most exciting thing in the world.
Do a little something called growing up DiRtY.
But I still believe in you. I know about your "long game."
Consistently stating the same thing since 2005 ;)
Sony has delivered great games each and every year since 2006, and their games improve and improve and win game of the year awards all over the place.
That is opinion and one that I don't agree with.
I have bought Killzone 2 and felt it was an average game. I have bought LBP and felt it was too juvenile for me, bought MGS4 and felt it was a HUGE let down, bought LAIR which I actually think is underrated, Socom Confrontation for $3 brand new at EBgames and it sucks, Uncharted 2 which had a great single player and a terrible multiplayer and last but not least God of War 3 which to me was the worst in the series thus far.
Other then those games that I bought, I was really not interested in anything else Sony offered as exclusives and the ones that I bought I really didn't care for much anyways.
So like I said, your comment is opinion and one that I disagree with.
I doubt they'd go down that path though, Sony are smart enough to know that there is more money in not forcing your customers to pay. eg. PS Home sales, better dev support etc
I play free with PS3.
For the sake of the industry we need Sony around, same with Nintendo and Microsoft, but sometimes when you hear people spin it can get annoying.
Sony is dead deal with it
Profitability yes, innovation I don't think so.
But...... I'll stay clear of N4G due to the huge cesspool of Sony fanboys. I'm tired of all of your ignorance.
I applaud him and do believe he will take SONY back to the roots and get the politics out of the way and without the cockiness in the way they had before.
I don't see Kaz going with that "generation starts when we say so, steak dinner nonsense of the past. That mentality is what has Sony on the verge of collapse.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
These fools have to realize that Xchat is not the only thing that makes a online service viable.