Is Sony done with Video Games?

[Atary77]

As the title suggest I'm curious if anyone here thinks if maybe, just maybe do you think Sony would ever pull out of the video game industry?

The reason I ask stems from a lot of things that have been going on over the past year. 2012 hasn't been especially kind to Sony nor was 2011 for that matter. Whether or not if it was their own fault is questionable but let's just take a look at what went on this year.

For starters Sony fired half of it's marketing staff. Now I can easily see two sides to this considering Sony has pulled some pretty bone headed stuff in the past when it's come to marketing their products. If it was any of those jokers that helped concoct the "PSP squirrels" or "White is Coming" campaigns then I can clearly see why they got rid of them. Yet at the same time Sony isn't really making any kind of big marketing push for the PS Vita and hasn't gotten behind any real marquee titles. Heck it's even been reported here on the site that they basically threw games like LittleBigPlanet Karting and All-Stars Battle Royal under a bus. Not to mention filing a lawsuit against an actor that was their own spokes person.

Financially Sony has also been taking some pretty big hits taking losses on hardware and analyst claiming that it's still not enough to save the PS Vita. While many folks are waiting for a PS4 it's not hard to believe that there are some people who think a PS4 won't even happen. When you think about Sony has other lines of business most of which have been more profitable to them than video games have. As a company it wouldn't surprise me if Sony decided to abandon the gaming industry in favor of things that make them more money and come with less risk.

But what do you folks think? Is Sony able to bounce back from all this negativity? Do they even care about the video game market anymore?

 

[Epona]

What makes them more money? Their TV division is in big trouble and I don't think they are making as much from other divisions as they are from Playstation. I think they will make a PS4 but maybe not another dedicated handheld.

You should be asking if Microsoft is done with games in favor of making an ad/subscription supported cable box.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

No, the Playstation brand is whats keeping Sony afloat, if anything I would expect Sony to try and expand it and become even bigger in the industry. Although I don't expect them to make another handheld, the vita showed that no one really want them anymore unless they can get them on their cellphone.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

If it was any of those jokers that helped concoct the "PSP squirrels" or "White is Coming" campaigns then I can clearly see why they got rid of them.

On the bright side, thanks to the PSP squirrels we got this:


I can't see them dropping out of the videogame industry completely, but maybe they should focus all of their efforts into making the PS4 as awesome as possible, rather than trying to plow money into Vita slims, if such a thing is in the works. But I think they've already invested a bit of cash and manpower into the PS4, so they might as well go through with it and see how they fare in the next gen.

 

[Savagezion]

The PS4 is already supposedly making an appearance at E3 next year.

 

[Hazy992]

Are Sony going to shut down a division of the company that's one of the most profitable? I seriously doubt that.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Considering most of their business is home entertainment I highly doubt their console will be left out.
And while they may not be the big wigs springing from all western billboards in Asia they are pretty much the lord almighty himself and Final Fantasy is baby Jesus.

 

[Hazy992]

Are Sony going to shut down a division of the company that's one of the most profitable? I seriously doubt that.

Are their finances going to be strong enough to continue any of their divisions in the near future, let alone gaming.

If they carry on getting their credit downgraded, losing value and firing employees, I seriously doubt it.

Sony aren't necessarily going to go bust, but they are in a whole heap of financial troubles. And that affectes all their divisions, gaming included.

That may be but the gaming division is going to be one of the last places to be cut. A company isn't going to cut one of their most profitable divisions just as much as one of their least, even if they are a company as short-sighted as Sony sometimes seems to be. The divisions that are going to go first are more likely something like Sony TVs.

Sony will probably have to downsize but gaming should be safe, at least in the shorter term.

 

[Sennune]

I don't think there's been enough speculation in this thread on the evolution of the gaming industry and Sony's involvement in it. Vita failed. The PS3 hardware still hasn't pulled through. Now Sony is looking toward the next console generation, a generation analysts and some developers have said may be the last console generation we will see. With companies like Valve, EA, Microsoft and others moving towards a digital platform for game distribution, the need for individual gaming machines will decrease more over this next generation.

If this comes to pass, Sony may not exist in the console making business, but they may go under reconstruction into making gaming PCs, Laptops, tablets and phones. I doubt it'll effect Sony's game development, as they still will make money from their franchises.

I don't think Sony will be done with videogames for a long, long time.

 

[FalloutJack]

I think the shoret answer to your question is "No", and the long answer is not a Yahtzee joke, but rather a statement that it would be largely impossible for them to be done with gaming when they are a big corporation whose business is not SOLELY into video gaming. This is what Sony did to branch out. They're still the makers of numerous electronics, and therefore have a financial backing to stay in the game even if the fiscal year hasn't been that good. Suffice to say, there's too big a market for it, and they're still a provider.

 

[Laughing Man]

Is Sony done with video games, NO are they done with video games consoles, YES. The PS4 will no doubt be the last dedicated console that Sony make. The signs have been kicking around for the last year or so but the purchase of a cloud gaming service shows exactly where the gaming market in general is going. I was involved in a discussion on a another forum that was asking the future of the gaming PC. The conclusion I reached was that when internet service provision reaches a point where cloud gaming is a real viable alternative for the majority of people, despite the fac that you will need to play at a lower graphics level, a lower res and with a lower fps most folk will happily pay for the service because it will allow them to play any game on any device that has a decent internet connection.

For Sony it is a win win situation, they no longer have to fork out the massive cost of getting a gaming device in to peoples house holds, this in the past has typically been the big cost factor for most games console makers, all they will require is folk to set up a cloud gaming account and then they just take a wad of cash from their accounts every month.

As for the up coming gen, well like MS Sony are going to go down the route of cramming a device that does a bit of everything in to your house. Ill be honest I want a console that plays games with a controller, if I want something that does internet access, movie streaming, tv streaming, music, blu ray and gaming Ill use my PC and if I want something that uses motion control and heavy use of augmented reality then Ill fucking shoot myself. Anyway Sony will push the PSN network paid for subscription service (which for the life of me I can't remember what it is called.) What you'll see is a lot less function being made available to those who opt for the free PSN service. The console itself will be a bang for the buck unit with off shelf components rather than something containing a whole bunch of dedicated hardware.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

It's really hard to predict what will happen to any of the major game companies more than a couple years down the line. It's pretty clear at this point that we are going to see a new Xbox and Playstation sooner rather than later, but anything beyond that is anybody's guess. It's going to be hard to predict exactly where gaming is going to go in the future (hell, I don't think anybody could have predicted some of the stuff that happened in the past year), so trying to figure out what's going to happen to Sony in the future is futile.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

The government has changed in Japan. The new (old) lot will probably start suppressing the value of the Yen like hell fiends which would really help the profitability of Japanese companies.

 

[Xdeser2]

Planetside 2

No, they are Faaaarrr from done with games

 

[BrotherRool]

They'll make it to a PS4, whatsmore since Nintendo have kindly taken initiative and hardware speced themselves out of the next console generation before it started, then it's hard to see why the PS4 won't succeed unless they just don't screw up. I can't see MS pulling something so gamechanging it takes the PS4 out of business (I mean they managed to eventually make the PS3 work even). I don't think people will randomly abandon consoles, and since this gen has been as big as ever, probably moreso because 360/PS3 gaming has become utterly mainstream, next gen might have less numbers, but not low enough to take Sony out of business.

The Vita is more tricky, the PS3 and the 3DS had rocky starting years so it's possible the Vita will recover, the PSP was never dominant but it still managed to sell 50 million+. Or it might fail and they leave handhelds alone.

Just in terms of IP property, Sony could still make money the way Sega does in the games industry with Uncharted and Little Big Planet. Gran Turismo has big name recognition, Quantic Dream seems like an ongoing good prospect. I just can't see them leaving the industry any time soon. They may take some hits and they may have to shrink a little (but not until they've spent another 2+ years trying) but even that I doubt.

The PS3 hardware still hasn't pulled through.

How do you mean? I'm pretty sure they're making money on the Ps3 since the Slim was released and they're on even footing with MS in terms of consoles sold now. Even if they were still taking a hardware hit, the money they make in royalties for PS3 games sold is more than worth it

 

[The_Echo]

I don't think Sony will be pulling out of the industry anytime soon. They're still a big player, even if they kind of came in last place this generation. Which I think is in no small part due to the PS3's adherence to the demographics that made the PS2 a success, while the Wii and 360 blindsided it by reeling in new demos like the 'casual' market and FPS-junkies (let's be honest here; the Xbox would have died long ago if not for Halo).

In this next generation, everyone's going to pretty much be on equal footing.

But if Sony dropped the handheld thing, I'm not sure anyone would mind, really.

 

[Roxas1359]

I can see Sony dropping out of the handheld race as they're handhelds haven't done well really. However I don't see them dropping out of the console race anytime soon. Plus while the PS3 is not as strong in the west it is still extremely strong in Japan behind the Wii. Really I still play my Sony consoles more than my Xbox because I find that Sony stills puts out the games and genres that I love. Let's honestly admit it, the main amount of games that are released for the Xbox are shooters and there are very few JRPGS, Platformers, and RPGs really. Meanwhile the Wii was a huge success for it's casual games.