There was a time when the Sony brand appeared everywhere, on a large number of devices and appliances. That time is now over: the Japanese giant is already in the midst of maneuvers that have led it to exit several markets (for example, consider the sale of the Vaio brand through which it made laptops) and in the near future it will focus more and more resources and energy on the gaming sector.
SONY CHASED BY SOUTH KOREA AND CHINA
This is stated by the CEO of the Japanese company, Hiroki Totoki, who interviewed by Bloomberg admitted the difficulties of a sector that has become increasingly competitive and crowded: “The consumer electronics market requires enormous volumes and competition essentially boils down to quantity and prices. Unfortunately, for Sony, it is very difficult to maintain that kind of volume.”
The Sony CEO also explains that, with competition localized in the area, “It is difficult to differentiate products in the consumer electronics field. This scenario has favored the entry of new competitors in the sector, first from Korea and then from China. China, as you know, has a huge domestic market and, thanks to this solid base, exports its devices.”
SONY’S GREAT ADVANTAGE: PLAYSTATION
For this reason, it seems that the Japanese manufacturer intends to entrench itself around the main competitive advantage it has over the flourishing extra-Japanese rivals: the PlayStation brand, the central hub of the gaming industry from the ’90s to today.
The difficulties encountered by respectable players (from Google with Stadia to Netflix’s streaming formulas) have not dented the fact that 60% of Sony’s revenues still currently come from entertainment, especially in the gaming field. Consequently, PlayStation must be and remain “the best place to play from the users’ point of view” and “the best space to publish” content from the perspective of publishers and developers.
TOWARDS A NEW ERA OF EXCLUSIVES?
Also, Bloomberg, in another article, points out that Sony in the gaming field would be making a sharp U-turn compared to the strategy adopted so far, perhaps experimentally, which saw it publishing PlayStation exclusives of single-player games on PC in recent years.
THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE NEXT XBOX
The low public response obtained in this field and the risk of diluting the strength of its intellectual properties would now have pushed the company to carefully choose which titles to publish also in PC catalogs and which to keep exclusive to its home consoles.
After all, the PC field is hunting ground for its direct rival, Xbox, thanks to the presence in this sector of Microsoft software and operating systems. From this point of view, Redmond’s plans seem increasingly aimed at multiplatform: it is rumored that the new American console will be hybrid and, starting from Nintendo Switch’s winning idea, wants to follow what Steam and Lenovo have done. A rumor that, if proven true, would force Sony to take a completely different path.
THE HIGH COST OF RAM
There is no shortage of rumors, therefore. The only certainty concerns the price of platforms constantly and often steeply rising: if the chip and RAM crisis continues, the next consoles risk debuting on the market at decidedly unpopular costs.
Looking at Lenovo itself, its portable Legion Go 2 console was supposed to have list prices around 999 euros while today the base model costs 1,749 euros reaching 2,499 euros in higher configurations. Sony itself has recently raised PlayStation 5 prices and so has Microsoft. An out-of-control situation that could increase the longevity of platforms currently on the market, considerably delaying the development of next models.
