Heads to roll globally at Sony's game division...
by Ed Stasick 
{ Apr 18th 2007 at 5:30PM }
Sony just can't catch a break. First, the firings were aimed at "right-sizing" Europe. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony's gaming divisions are moving into cost-cutting mode on a global scale in the wake of a 200 billion yen loss (that's like ten dollars US)."Sony is considering a global restructuring of its game unit and job cuts may happen not only in Europe, but also in Japan and North America. Sony's game unit is currently comprised of about 4,500 employees worldwide."
Of course, Sony denies that its flagship consumer product, the PS3, had any impact on their decision making: "Sony's spokeswoman denied that any potential job cuts have anything to do with the PlayStation 3 business and the huge costs associated with the new console."
We hear Nintendo is hiring.
[Via Gamedaily]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TheGuy @ Apr 18th 2007 5:42PM
I actually take this news as a good thing, not bad.
Everyone knows that Sony has been hurting lately, since it got drunk from power by the overwhelming success of the PS2. Sony became overconfident in the # of PS2 owners who would purchase a PS3, causing them to shoot for the moon with the PS3 which resulted in a large price tag. Now, Sony is learning the hard way the error of its ways, so it's trying to correct itself. Sony became bloated after the success of the PS2, and now it's trying to cut-off the fat.
kingofwale @ Apr 18th 2007 5:51PM
I feel for people who will be losing their jobs, but cost cutting is a way of current economy. If you want to success, you have to go through this. I see Sony outsourcing to probably China.
pass some of the saving to us please? :)
andres @ Apr 18th 2007 6:04PM
Dude this sucks for sony fans. It gives xbox fanboys like me more fuel to the fire...however I for one am not going to fan any flames.
It sucks for the people that are about to lose there jobs.
Hobofuzz @ Apr 18th 2007 6:15PM
I really hope you're being sarcastic about 200 billion Yen being equal to 10 dollars. Japan has the second largest economy in the world, and 200 billion yen is approximately 1,691,400,000 US dollars.
Anyway, this is a major loss for Sony considering they were expecting excellent sales with the PS3.
Neil @ Apr 18th 2007 6:27PM
@Hobofuzz
Obviously.
alienclay @ Apr 18th 2007 6:51PM
i blame kutaragi for this.
his arrogence, blatent spending, disreguard for peers and higher ups, and general lack of vision beyond the hardware of the ps3 itself has hurt the playstation brand. just some of the very words to spew from his mouth during e3 was enough to raise sony hate around the world and put a sour outlook on the system even before it had the chance to speak for it's self.
i believe sony knows that it has to lower the playstation price, and fast, but to keep this budget balenced, and to make a future profit, (which is what it has to do unlike some other consoles), scrifices have to be made.
i like sir howard, i only wish he was on as sony ceo 4 or 5 years earlier.
massive_98 @ Apr 18th 2007 6:53PM
After R&D what do all those extra people do? (They have been doing a shity job of advertising)
Gamble20 @ Apr 18th 2007 7:01PM
@6
Kutaragi is not to blame for the deterioration of the PS brand. Why don't people realize that he created the PS brand. PS3 has not done quite so well for many reasons, but even at its current pace through 5 years it would sell well over 30 million units (which is more than Xbox 1 or Gamecube), so its not like PS3 is a failure.
I think its kind of like Nintendo. THey dominated (although not quite as much as Sony) with the NES and SNES, then they got cocky. Sony came in with the PS1 and wiped them out, but N64 was still a great system and Nintendo is still just fine.
You can't be number 1 forever. Don't worry PS3 will be fine.
KILLU @ Apr 18th 2007 8:00PM
ha, i have an unpatched gta liberty city stories so im ok, VIVA SONY.
jesse @ Apr 18th 2007 8:54PM
"even at its current pace through 5 years it would sell well over 30 million units"
You're obviously counting the significant launch sales when you talk about "current pace" and not the current weekly pace of sales. At the current weekly pace of sales (about 50K/week world wide) Sony will sell less than 15 million at 5 years.
To be fair, the sales are slowing almost every week. Last week Sony set record lows for Japan and the UK. It's likely that they'll post even lower numbers next week.
Arnie @ Apr 19th 2007 2:20AM
I dont see how they can cut jobs in the EU, the PS3 has only just been launched.
Sony took a hammer to the EU/Australasian PS3's kneecaps by removing the PS2 chip (a though occurs, read on).
Only 3 decent Launch games (IMO)
The Advertising will have been done by the PR dept after what must have been one hell of a Session on the Sake!
Back to my Thought...
I have a PS2... redundant once i by my PS3 (soon) is it possible to rip it open and re-introduce the PS2 chip?????????
kike @ Apr 19th 2007 8:05PM
Playstation 3: 160 despidos para compensar las bajas ventas
Sony recortará un 10 por ciento de los puestos de trabajo de su filial Computer Entertainment Europe, ya que su nueva videoconsola no está obteniendo los resultados previstos
El fabricante de la consola PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment, eliminará hasta 160 puestos de trabajo en Europa debido a la fuerte competencia que generan rivales como la Wii de Nintendo y la Xbox 360 de Microsoft, informa hoy el diario Nikkei.
La reducción equivale al 10 por ciento de la fuerza de trabajo en en Sony Computer Entertainment Europe y el presidente de esa empresa, David Reeves, informó a sus empleados esta semana por correo electrónico.
La videoconsola PlayStation 3 fue lanzada al mercado de Japón y Estados Unidos en noviembre pasado, pero la llegada al mercado Europeo se retrasó hasta marzo.
Las ventas en Europa de la nueva generación de consolas de Sony se ha dificultado por el retraso en la llegada y también por la intensa competencia de los aparatos portátiles de Nintendo. Otro de los factores que presiona a Sony es la disponibilidad para sus competidores de programas que antes sólo se diseñaban en exclusiva para la PlayStation, según las mismas fuentes.
Gamble20 @ Apr 20th 2007 7:22PM
"15 million/5 years"
First off how can you not include the launch? and actually sales have risen despite all the other systems, and it doesn't even have any games.