Sony chief bets on original content as part of ‘creation shift’

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Sony is betting on a multibillion-dollar push into producing more original content, as part of a "creation shift" the Japanese tech giant hopes will win it a greater share of the $3tn entertainment industry.

In an interview with the Financial Times, chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida said that Sony needed to shift its focus from distribution to the creation of intellectual property, to cement a corporate transformation from a consumer electronics brand into a global entertainment company.

"We have the technology and creation is the area where we like and where we can contribute the most," Yoshida said, adding that the group can still use its camera, sensor and other consumer electronics roots to produce live entertainment.
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Until now, the Japanese group has taken a different approach. Instead of directly competing with streamers, Sony has sold its film and TV rights to them — a relationship the Japanese group wants to maintain as it involves itself more deeply in content production.

"By putting our efforts in creation, that also means that we will work with partners on the distribution side. So I think we have developed very good relationships with the so-called Big Tech players," Yoshida said.

So far, Sony has leveraged its variety of media businesses to better profit from its acquired intellectual property, leading to hits in recent years including The Last of Us, which was converted from a PlayStation game into a hugely popular television series, and Uncharted, another video game adaptation for cinema.
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Following the investment splurge, Sony's top executives argue that the group needs to be more directly involved in creating content at an earlier stage to get higher returns.

"Whether it's for games, films or anime, we don't have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning," said chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki, who is widely seen as Yoshida's successor, in a separate interview.

"We're lacking the early phase (of IP) and that's an issue for us," he added, noting that Sony has historically been better at finding a global audience for content that have already become popular in their home market.
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Totoki said Sony also wanted to use its knowhow from its PlayStation Network service including payments, security and data analysis to improve engagement with Crunchyroll subscribers, and expand business opportunity through joint promotions. "About 30 per cent of PlayStation Network service customers watch anime, but only about 5 per cent have Crunchyroll accounts," Totoki added.
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Old Gamer

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You guys aren't reading between the lines...

Kenichiro Yoshida said that Sony needed to shift its focus from distribution to the creation of intellectual property, to cement a corporate transformation from a consumer electronics brand into a global entertainment company
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He's talking about going third party.

Microsoft-Sony-Kooperation-Yoshida-Nadella-640x336.jpg
 
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Dr. E99

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I maintain that Sony's smartest move thus far has been in their entertainment business, where they didn't try to create yet another streaming service but instead license content directly to Netflix.
 
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quest4441

quest4441

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This nigga cant get a FATE JRPG made for his own console platform, talking about new IP is just hogwash
 
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Killer_Sakoman

Killer_Sakoman

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Luffy123 said:
yes but the big heads at Sony dont care about PlayStation lmfao
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I don't blame any executive retiring soon. He is looking for the bonuses and the sky high stocks he is generating by his BS. Sell them and take the big bonus then give that money to your spoiled kids and die.
 
Zzero

Zzero

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Lol, imagine paying for anime. Imagine paying for television! Cut those cords, live life free.
 
Etifilio

Etifilio

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in other words… third party company licensing stuff to other streaming platforms and storefronts…
 
Yurinka

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Nothing new in this article. Yoshida and Totoki have been saying this for a few years.

They are in a process to switch their focus, focusing in the future less in their electronics side, sell 80% of their banks/insurances division and in order to focus more in the creation of entertainment (this is, making games, movies, music, anime, tv shows) and also to further strengthen their own B2C platforms like PSN or Crunchyroll, while also serving other distributors (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify, Apple Music etc).
 
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TrishaCat

TrishaCat

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Zzero said:
Lol, imagine paying for anime. Imagine paying for television! Cut those cords, live life free.
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>not buying all your anime and TV on bluray
Foolish mortal.
ksizmju.jpeg

Sadly most of my anime collection is still in the US but I do have these with me.
 
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Dabaus

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If Concord and any of sonys recent decisions of going all in on DEI characters and designs, well good luck.
 
Neversummer

Neversummer

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Maybe bring back inFAMOUS, Killzone, Resistance, Jak & Daxter & Sly Cooper. Oh Andy’s consolidate aswell buy WB, Dragon Quest ip, Dead by Daylight ip + studio, level 5 to bring back classics PS JRPG, Arc system work to make a PS allstars 2 etc. In its history of PS there barely consolidated & they’ve missed out on great studios Sony should probable be more aggressive in buying studios w ip/already proven track record then studios w talent but no ip or proven track record
 
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