Sony Computer Entertainment, the iconic company that gave birth to the billion dollar PlayStation brand, is dead – or, at least, it will be when the new financial year begins on 1st April. The Japanese giant has announced its intention today to merge the PlayStation maker with Sony Network Entertainment, a companion subsidiary created to control the PlayStation Network and complementary services such as PlayStation Music and PlayStation Vue. The new consolidated company will be named Sony Interactive Entertainment, and will be headquartered in California.
That the merger's taken this long to occur is perhaps indicative of the occasionally convoluted structure of Sony Corp in general – though it's something that CEO Kaz Hirai has been busy trying to correct since the beginning of his tenure in 2012. This seems like the logical next step. "By integrating the strengths of PlayStation's hardware, software, content, and network operations, SIE will become an even stronger entity, with a clear objective to further accelerate the growth of the PlayStation business," an optimistic group president Andrew House exclaimed in a press release.
So what does this all actually mean? Well, the platform holder's been on a bit of a rebranding binge for a while now, transforming services like Qriocity into PlayStation Music. Over the past couple of years, virtually all of its network products have been dressed with the PlayStation moniker, suggesting that Sony's doubling down on the uber-popular brand to fortify all of its online initiatives. It obviously makes sense, then, that operations such as TV streaming service PlayStation Vue should work in collaboration with PlayStation, under the same corporate umbrella.
It perhaps gives us a glimpse into Sony's roadmap, with the 'Computer' part of its former namesake decreasing in importance as it looks towards an increasingly inevitable future of online content delivery. Services like PlayStation Now bear out that strategy. But even ignoring this forward-thinking objective, it's relatively easy to see how merging Sony Computer Entertainment with Sony Network Entertainment will benefit it in the short-term – the two companies will now be able to work in tandem to ensure that key platforms like the PlayStation Network are moving in the right direction.
"The news is bittersweet, because it potentially marks the end of SCE's legendary diamond logo"
And it just might improve things on a global scale: Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, in their current guise, operate independently, which has resulted in copious delays to digital releases in the latter region. Microsoft, to its credit, doesn't have this kind of segmentation between territories, enabling games to release globally without any delay. If this tweak improves the timeliness of PSN titles, then it's very much something that we can get behind.
Of course, the news is bittersweet, because it obviously marks the end of Sony Computer Entertainment and potentially its legendary diamond logo, which has been an ever-present element of PlayStation's branding for the past 20 years. Many of you will have fond memories of the PSone start-up screen, but the white-on-black 'Sony Computer Entertainment presents' message has become similarly iconic as the platform holder's library of exclusives has grown. We're sure that it will continue the legacy in spirit, but 'Sony Interactive Entertainment presents' won't ever be the same.
However, the company seems confident that this is the right move, and we think that it is, too. This current PlayStation team has proven with the PS4 that it's tapped into the pulse of the industry, but it also appears to have a long-term vision in place. Sony Interactive Entertainment seems to be its first step forward. As such, in the near future, we doubt that much is going to change – but if the firm genuinely believes that this move will help to strengthen the PlayStation brand, then we're willing to accept it.
What do you make of Sony's decision to merge Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment into a new entity? Are you worried about what the future holds? Enter a brave new world in the comments section below.
Comments 25
I wonder if Alienation will be the last game to the carry the "Sony Computer Entertainment Presents" logo
Never liked the diamond logo. SCEE is a jokey mess. Let's hope we get some 'flash sales' like NA. Gamers ain't gonna go digital for a long while unless it's forced upon them which could destroy sales. The digital vs retail battle is going to be a lot more drawn out than the music or Film equivalents just because of the high cost of digital games.
Considering the precipitous drop in PC sales over the past 4 years, 2015 being the worst ever, dropping "computer" from the name was probably a good idea.
It might be a good time to panic they might be getting rid of the PS4. Run and panic.
Whenever I see - 'Sony Computer Entertainment presents' it always reminds me of Crash Bandicoot. Fond memories
Makes sense to me. Particularly with Sony getting into the VR arena. "Interactive entertainment", at least to my mind, nicely sums up what Sony provide [in the gaming world].
I have no affinity to Logo's or 'words' associated with them. The merger may mean that we never see that logo or those words again - unless I boot up games released prior to April 1st, but I really couldn't care less!
I certainly didn't buy my Playstations or games because of SCE or because they were made by Sony. I really never pay attention to the start up screens - all I am interested in is the game and playing it as quickly as possible. Most of the time whilst my console/game is booting up,I am getting ready to play, checking emails or doing something whilst I wait for the start screen.
As long as it doesn't negatively impact on the games I play, I couldn't care less!
Gonna be painful to see "Sony Computer Entertainment presents" go away. That alone would hyped me up
It's not dying. It's merging and being renamed. Nintendo did this too awhile back with its main studios, merging them into one consolidated and efficient structure to manage their new business needs. But that was looked on a lot more optimistically than what you guys seem to be doing.
SCE isn't dying. Just renaming and working in a different manner, hopefully more efficiently. Now we just pray they sort out the issues with the EU. Because I hope the prats running SCEE do die, or at least get made redundant. And since Sony is restructuring its network stuff, how about redesigning the PS Store, or folders, or any of the other crap your competitors try to do?
Instead of thinking about the death of SCE, how about we pray for the amazing improvements this should hopefully bring.
@BLPs Did you even read the article?
It is really sad that they didn't even mention the PS Vita... :/
@BAMozzy if you had asked me what the SCE logo looked like, I'd never be able to tell you. I'm much like you in that I don't care for the logo more than the game itself. Now if they did a radical redesign of the PS logo, then we might have words. Haha
@BLPs You hope the "prats running SCEE die"? Bit excessive, no?
@Sir_JBizzle To be honest, I don't really care about the Playstation logo either. Playstation - much like any other console for me - is just the device I need to play the games I want. I certainly don't have allegiance to any brand and that goes for everything too.
Whenever I see 'Sony Computer Entertainment' I think 'please hurry up the credits b****ks, I want to play my game'.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi
High cost of games is all relative. If you factor inflation some would argue games have never been cheaper. Especially when you factor in the production value which is higher than its ever been.
It makes sense really. Since they now have PS Now on a variety of devices as well as other PS branding, heck my brother got a Sony blu-ray player for Christmas and it has the PS store on it where he can buy movies from. Even gets notices of the flash sales too. Even the ui looks like the PS3's. So I can see the reasoning for the rebranding.
Honestly though the SCE logo or name hasn't mean much to me since the PS one, I remember seeing it during PS2 era but that name and logo is more iconic to me with the PS one.
@DarthDiggler I'm talking about the value between retail and digital, digital obviously has zero resale value and it often costs more digitally, this is insane.
When I first saw this I was somewhat optimistic and thought that somehow after the merge psn will become something like steam with worldwide releases finally ditching the archaic pal release problems. Seems that this is not the case, at least at first.
I will miss the sce logo 😢
One thing worth adding here, and I might break out into a separate article, is that PlayStation HQ is in California now. The company's based in America rather than Tokyo.
Does a caterpillar die when it becomes a butterfly? I'm so deep right?
What?! I was playing Crash Bandicoot tonight and they made that and so many other great games. Why do they feel the need to change now. They've got the biggest market share, why change this now? It may be a great thing but it seems weird.
I love the diamond logo which I automatically attach to the PS1 startup.
@get2sammyb I was just thinking that. Could its focus now shift more to the needs of the American market first like the Xbox brand?
@mookysam
That's my question too. Granted the Western markets are bigger but there's still plenty of great stuff coming from Japan and that region has always been important to PS' successs. I like the idea of merging everything into one. I wish they had stayed in Japan though.
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