Sony Corp plans to boost cloud-based gaming by creating a mass-market streaming service similar to Netflix Inc’s as the PlayStation maker tries to rebound from a projected US$2.1 billion annual loss.
The company wants its online game service to also work with Internet-connected TVs made by other manufacturers, Andrew House, president and group chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, said in an interview at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday.
The company is experimenting with pricing options for rentals and subscriptions, he said.
Gaming remains a bright spot for Sony as it begins to merge online services offering movies, TV shows and software titles and prepares to start console sales in China. The PlayStation Network has more than 50 million active users, and the PS4 has sold more than 10 million units since its release in November, outpacing Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One.
“If you look at other forms of entertainment and the dramatic impact streaming has had on those, that says that there is clearly a strong consumer satisfaction with the instant gratification,” House said. “We think that has a role to play in the future of games as well.”
In 2012, Sony bought Gaikai Inc for US$380 million to acquire cloud gaming technology that allows users to interact with remote applications, enabling gamers to play without having the software installed on their devices. Currently, PlayStation Now is available in North America for streaming content on Sony devices including Bravia TVs.
“It is very important in my view to extend that beyond the console,” House said. “A range of smart TVs would probably be the next target set of devices. Our desire for PlayStation Now is to be manufacturer-agnostic.”
Sony on Wednesday said it would report a wider full-year loss of ¥230 billion (US$2.11 billion) as it writes down the value of its faltering smartphone business. The company does not see the wider loss triggering any major changes in the game division, House said.
“My goal is to build out a very healthy, robust ecosystem based around the PlayStation platform that can be a strong contributor to both the brand and the financial health of the company,” he said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure