Sony's Hirai Gets It
Posted by: Kenji Hall on June 22, 2007
Looks like Sony’s new PlayStation boss, Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai, knows what he has to do to turn things around. At Sony’s shareholders meeting yesterday, the polished, youngster (at 45, he’s a baby for such a high-ranking Japanese exec) said Sony would be releasing 200 video game and other software titles and 180 download-only titles, from just over 100 now.
Anyone in the gaming industry knows that, after the initial launch hype, it’s games that keep those consoles selling. And since Sony will be losing money on every console it sells until perhaps 2009, it will need the software revenue and licensing royalties (and even some in-game ad money) to pick up the slack. More games will also help Sony shirk the perception that it’s trailing rival Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. For now, that’s the reality. Let’s hope Hirai can work his much-talked-about communications skills that made him such a hit among U.S. software makers to persuade programmers to keep cranking out those games.
