In a rare English language interview with Bloomberg, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki has talked about his company’s transition from consumer electronics to entertainment.
The Japanese giant is best known for its history making products like televisions and CD players, but recently it spun off its Bravia business as part of a historic move, launching a new joint venture with Chinese manufacturer TCL.
The firm remains a big player in the digital camera market, but it’s movies, music, and, of course, gaming that’s increasingly dominating its business.
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In fact, in this new interview, Totoki confirms that entertainment now represents “more than 60%” of its overall revenue.
As he reveals, Sony was “forced to change”:
“It’s difficult to differentiate the products in the area of consumer electronics. And that environment invited new entrants into the industry, first from Korea followed by China.
China, as you understand, has an enormous domestic market. And so backed by that market they export their products. The consumer electronics market needs massive scale, and the competition comes down to volume and price. Unfortunately it’s very hard to maintain that volume in Sony.”
Totoki continued that PlayStation is by far Sony’s biggest asset, and so it’s imperative it remains the best place to play.
He explained:
“We are always talking about PlayStation should be the best place to play from the user's perspective. But also we must be the best place to publish. We have relationships with third-party game publishers. And of course we have great studios as a first-party as well.”
The executive didn’t elaborate much on how Sony intends to maintain that status, but it’s refreshing that it remains the goal.
Some have worried that the company may take its foot off the pedal now Xbox is no longer a competitor, but it still faces intense pressure from Nintendo and Valve, as well as other forms of entertainment like streaming.
Speaking of which, Totoki noted that platforms like Netflix and its own subsidiary Crunchyroll have helped grow the popularity of anime worldwide, and he now believes the format is mainstream. It’s something Sony has been investing heavily in as it continues to see the popularity grow.
Despite this heavy emphasis on entertainment, the CEO revealed that he’s not a particularly big fan of playing games, but he does enjoy music and TV dramas.
Specifically he’s a fan of UK rock band Oasis, and he attended their performance at the Tokyo Dome last year.