Sony didn't believe PlayStation 'would ever be a major part' of its business

PlayStation was viewed extremely negative from large parts of Sony before it launched, Andrew House revealed at Develop Conference today.

[ApolloAdams]

And now it's their only recent commercial success. Funny how that goes huh.

[iamnsuperman]

Erm Sony has also seen recent sucess with its mobile division (phone and tablet under the Xperia label). Just a shame its entertainment failings over shadow this

Edit: actually the first Xperia Z has been attributed to pushing Sony's earnings into the black. It was also a very popular handset in parts of Europe. Sony who had no market share to some is a big success for Sony's mobile future. Market share doesn't change over night with yearly releases of several variants per company

[ApolloAdams]

Xperia isn't successful. They are near the bottom when it comes to phone manufacturer sales. They are behind Samsung, Apple, Nokia, LG, ZTE, Huawai, TLC, Lenovo, CoolPad with a 2% marketshare.

[SamPao]

@apollo lol. Check your sources again :P

[ApolloAdams]

Now you are changing my previous argument. I never said Xperia didn't turn Sony profitable.

Xperia just isn't popular. Also of course market share doesn't change over night if you want just numbers Xperia sold around under 40 million units last year...Pathetic.

Also who cares that their one phone was kinda popular in some countries of Europe. Lol Moral victories huh.

@Ultr

My sources are solid actually. And accurate.

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.j...

https://www.google.com/sear...

https://www.google.com/sear...

http://www.google.com/imgre...

https://www.google.com/sear...

http://www.fiercewireless.c...

http://www.androidcentral.c...

Sony not even mentioned on the last one because they don't sell well.

[our_games_are_art]

I've always had an eye on the Xperia phones. And if the iphone 6 leaks are true and Apple is making it look more like a galaxy. I'll be getting a sony phone

[SilentNegotiator]

If you think PS is Sony's "only" recent commercial success, you don't know anything about Sony's businesses.

Or you're just a troll and we all know what the case is here.

[ApolloAdams]

Name them and give evidence of RECENT Sony commercial successes besides PS4. I already debunked the who Sony is successful at mobile.

Next.

[snookiegamer]

@SilentNegotiator

LOL you're right about Apollo. Every PS Article I've read over the last few hrs, he's in there either downplaying Sony/PS4 or trolling it.

Just a couple of hours ago, I read a comment by Apollo (check his history), where he told an actual 'real' PS4 supporter (who called him out on his trolling) to calm down, because he himself owns a PS4. Yet he spends hours trolling in PS4 articles. That's really pathetic, I'm calling BS!

[SilentNegotiator]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013...

edit: Looks like KinjoTakemura beat me to it.

[SilentNegotiator]

@Apollo

We're waaaaaiting, Apollo....

[KinjoTakemura]

Playstation, blu-ray, movies, music, mobile devices, and financial services.

The only division that isn't profitable is Electronics (Televisions, computers, laptops)

Pass the word. You should know what you're posting before you post it.

Not knowing what you're posting and just going along with the popular view just makes you look foolish.

Sony Financial Group
http://www.sonyfh.co.jp/en/...

Sony Pictures
http://www.sonypictures.com...

Sony Music
http://www.sonymusic.com/

[Geoff900]

Because they listened to the consumers, and made the necessary changes to their PlayStation, unlike what they did with the PS3, Walkman etc. If Sony continue to make the changes, they will become a major player in the electronics market like they once where.

[AgentSmithPS4]

"Sony didn't believe PlayStation 'would ever be a major part' of its business"
Take that you boring old businessmen back in time!
Who would've thought that people would want to have fun ;).

[Spotie]

Funny how you can state out and out lies and yet not be marked for the troll you are. Sony is doing well in MOST areas, notably music and movies. Their financial division has pretty much always been solid, too. And while mobile may not be on top, it's still doing well.

But I don't have to tell you this. Not only have others educated you, but I'm certain you know better, anyway.

I've found that most of those who troll Sony do so with full knowledge that what they say is a lie, or a partial truth, at best.

[user7402931]

s its

on

newbies

yearly

[uth11]

because Betamax was going to carry the company forever :P

[danny818]

you just have to

Believe

[chrissx]

Now they Believe

[Anon1974]

While certainly games bring in a tonne of revenue, it's still small potatoes when you look at the company as a whole. Latest figures show Sony's overall annual revenue at roughly 75 billion dollars and usually the game division's contribution to that figure is not quite 10%. While that's nothing to sneeze at, Sony generates roughly the same amount of sales from digital cameras.

That's why I always end up shaking my head when some article boasts how the PS4 could end up "saving" Sony or how the Vita or PSNow, or PSTV (or whatever these guys dream up) will end up ultimately dooming the company. The entire game division could disappear and Sony would continue to exist. Again, not downplaying the amount they bring in, but it's the same story over at Microsoft. The game divisions are just one piece of the larger, corporate puzzle. There are still large investors (and in Microsoft's case, board members) who think that Sony and Microsoft are wasting their time and investments with game consoles. In Microsoft's case, it's hard to argue with them when you compare the return on investment the game division sees relative to all other divisions of the company.

Anyway...

[Death]

In Microsoft's case I would assume the game division is simply lowering their taxable income by providing a place to funnel money instead of paying it on taxes.

The Playstation has accounted for as much as 11% of Sony's operating income. In recent years it's been a couple percent when it didn't contribute to losses. Sony's money maker is insurance and financial services.

[Anon1974]

That's true. I never considered that for MS, it may be advantageous to them from a tax perspective to have certain divisions making money but at a lower rate than others.

As for Sony's operating income in a sea of red ink over the past four years it wouldn't be hard to make up a sizable chunk of profit...by simply making a profit. :)

And you're right about the insurance and financial services being huge money makers at the moment for Sony. A lot of people are confused by Sony's current debts categorizing them as a bad thing, not realizing that the insurance, financial and security business create profit by creating, buying and selling debt. Every insurance agreement, every bond issue, every dollar on deposit with the financial arm is a mark in the "debt" column of the ledger. Of course Sony has more debt than a company like Microsoft or Nintendo who don't have financial services under their belt. They're supposed to have debt. The world's debt markets absolutely dwarf the world's stock markets.

It'll be interesting to see if Sony's newly spun off TV division is able to return to profitability next year as they're predicting. Electronics in general still makes up over half of all Sony's sales.

[Geoff900]

MS restructured their entire business, so their Windows Phone, Media (Xbox), and television are all in one group, it's basically a huge tax evasion group.

It's the prime reason they don't care about losing billions from that division.

[Anon1974]

They may not care, but their shareholders might and ultimately that's who they have to answer to. That's the reason we're seeing pressure now from board members and large blocks of shareholders.

To break it down simply, if you had millions to invest each year in multiple divisions, and one consistently returns 5% while the others returned 40% on that investment (just pulling these numbers out of my ass for illustration) - it's got to make it hard to explain to investors why you don't reinvest everything you put in the lower performing division into the other divisions.

MS may be using their new division to help them tax wise, but they still have to explain it to shareholders at the end of the day which is why despite MS's insistence they aren't selling off these assets, we haven't heard the last rumor to this effect.

[CervantesPR]

Time for xbox fanboys to talk smack about sony with their finances lol yup just sidestep the fact that the ps4 takes a dump on the xbox one

[turdburgler1080]

@cervantespr

Did somebody say bankruptcy? *rimshot*

[TXIDarkAvenger]

The humor is you talking shit about One while saying xbox fanboys will come talk smack about Sony.

[hkgamer]

To be honest, the design of the original PlayStation doesn't really match other Sony products. Looked more like a cheap toy compared to their tvs, vhs player, hi-fi, Walkmans.

The ps2 and psp however looked way more classy and deserving of the Sony name.

[chaosx]

yeah because the original PS was a rebranded Nintendo.

http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

Nintendo even owned the name Play Station. Sony changed to PlayStation

The brand was built on lies and hate between the 2 companies.

[hkgamer]

Well 50/50 correct. The PlayStation was nothing like the Nintendo Sony project though.

[Agent_hitman]

Yeah Playstation is their lucky charm in this industry. Good move entering console market, Sony.

[turdburgler1080]

Now it's one of the only things keeping their head above water. But like Jack in titanic rose will let go. *rim shot*