In what comes as no surprise, a viral tweet misrepresented a Sony statement to suggest that PlayStation is going multiplatform. The confusion stems from an earnings call held yesterday, where the company talked about “moving away from a hardware-centric business.” Without the full quote, this was widely interpreted as Sony admitting that PlayStation is following Microsoft’s footsteps. Not quite.
Is PlayStation going multiplatform? Here’s what Sony really said
We admit that we fell for the out-of-context tweet ourselves, but have since read the full quote, which was recorded by SeekingAlpha.
What Sony really said was that it wants its entertainment businesses to not revolve solely around hardware, and shift more towards “creation.” The complete unedited statement can be read below:
So the investment in Bandai, and of course, we have been shifting to creation. So for example, the entertainment 3 businesses basically account for 60% of our consolidated revenue. So basically, our business portfolio is shifting more to the creation.
And then as for the Electronics business and TV, compared to output devices, we are now shifting to creation devices that include digital camera. So as a result, we are seeing more stability in profitability and in revenue, and also the productivity of our performance is increasing. And against such backdrop, and for example, in the Music business, Music Streaming and EMI Music Publishing has been acquired, and then we increased the music catalog.
And as I mentioned in the speech, in gaming business and moving away from a hardware-centric business to more to the community- based engagement business, and then that has been increasing. So now as we make more transition to entertainment creation, the stability and the productivity, our performance is increasing. So this upward revision might not have been a direct result of these. However, the Music Publishing and also acquisition of a music catalog and also the acquisition of Crunchyroll, these are the areas where we are seeing growth. And as a portfolio, we have been expanding our businesses and also improving our profitability.
Nowhere in this statement does Sony imply that PlayStation is going multiplatform or following Microsoft’s footsteps.
Will PlayStation eventually drop exclusives in favor of multiplatform games? Your guess is as good as ours. But to say that Sony confirmed recent rumors in this statement is categorically false.
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