SonySony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has suggested that the PlayStation Network could do a better job of highlighting the company’s music and video content in the future.
Speaking to the New York Times at CES 2019, Yoshida plans to use the high profile platform of PSN to showcase more Sony movies, TV shows, and music. He intends to “convey the message that Sony is a creative entertainment company.”
The NYT reports that Yoshida has been told from “on high” (that’s his bosses, not a mystical higher power just so we’re all on the same page) that Sony’s three separate divisions – music, film, and gaming – need to start working together more consistently.
Yoshida notes that the PlayStation Network is “a very strong entertainment platform for all of Sony — very suitable for video and music content.” In other words, Sony’s gaming arm is likely doing better than the music and film divisions, and the company wants to leverage that as best they can.
Analysts have in the past apparently expressed concern that such a move would alienate hardcore gamers, apparently believing that PlayStation Network managers have been “hesitant” to start pushing more music and film as the core gamer audience wouldn’t be that into it.
With the PS4 so famously adopting a “for the players” approach, I do imagine a sudden pivot toward nudging more music and film in the direction of gamers wouldn’t go down terribly well – but it really depends how Sony does it.
SonyNothing is set in stone yet of course, but with the PlayStation 5 likely only two or three years away, I’d be shocked if the Sony execs weren’t currently locked into maximum synergy mode.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.