These days Howard Stringer makes his home in a hotel suite in an affluent Tokyo neighborhood not far from Sony headquarters. It's a comfortable but far from palatial space consisting of a bedroom, bathroom, and decent-size living-dining area with a small desk that he has outfitted with a PC and fax machine.
But he's here because, he says, he finally has his arms wrapped around the Japanese leviathan, and he thinks he has a clear shot -- perhaps his final one -- at remaking Sony by transforming its culture, elevating new leadership, and finding new ways to exploit its technology and content.
It's a daunting task. Sony's stumbles in sectors it once dominated. Apple is No. 1 by a large margin in portable music players, and Microsoft and Nintendo have taken swaths of share in gaming consoles) are old news by now, but upstart competitors continue to gnaw away at the Japanese giant. In just two years a startup called Pure Digital (now owned by Cisco) has grabbed some 17% of the video recorder market with its easy-to-use, pocket-size Flip.
Square Enix launches Final Fantasy X 25th anniversary site, revealing new Nomura art, books, music releases, and merchandise.
Look I know VIII has its issues and all that but how on earth can the do big anniversary events with new artwork and merchandise for VII, IX and X yet VIII got sweet f*** all.
They could have given it something during its 25th anniversary yet all it got was a single Happy Anniversary post on their social media.
they should know that we are OG fans of VIII as it sold truckload as well. not as much as VII or X. I personally didn't like IX but X and VI are my personal fav.
Shadow Hearts 2 covenant is another game I love. I hope one day someone can make remake, I would be delighted
Final Fantasy VIII is great and you are always the first to defend it in the comments
A brutal reset, a smarter story, and a return to what made it great—Mortal Kombat (2011) revived the series.
Underrated comment. I used to hate that game so much that any time my siblings asked me to play it, I just picked Hom and shut myself down mid-match.
15 years went by so fast. I remember playing through the story mode at launch.
Why did Sony push Shuhei Yoshida out of his role leading PlayStation's first-party games? He'd overseen some huge successes. Well, apparently, he didn't listen.
Yeah I can see that for sure. Shuhei Yoshida should have been in charge not Jim Ryan.
It should be free highway for him now.. but Sony are too stupid to see this, especially that moron Hulst
Wtf why all that anger. PlayStation is dominating on every level. Besides I think there is a little more to hiring a CEO than just who is available. Its not like its a athlete your team wants to buy.
S2Killinit
live service failures, chasing trends, closing studios. yes dominating
Sony is Dominating because competition is not existing. Compared to previous gens this is the poorest in terms of software offerings.
Last gen we got Uncharted 4 Lost Legacy and TLOU2 from ND alone.
This is so far a remasters gen, with no competition to lift up the quality
..."PlayStation is dominating on every level"....
...Really???
PlayStation are soon heading into a new generation in the not to distant future. They currently have the worst customer satisfaction they've ever sustained as a company. The company is heading for a huge crash while at the same time they'll need to be planning how they are going to try and win back that favour and the build up to their new releases.
Yes financially they're winning but they're going to have to ride out this complete public corporate disaster. No one has faith in the company or the product anymore. They've damaged their public image so much this generation. Greed can kill anyone.
He would've done the same thing and fire Jim Ryan and Shuhei would be the villain. Why?
Because Elite creates the narrative and distraction for gamers, users and citizens.
More confirmation that Jim Ryan is the culprit for what has happened to Sony. Hulst needs to go too. What sucks is that a lot of the good top heads at Sony are no longer there. I wish that guys that were forced out prematurely by Dumbo Jimbo like Shuhei and Layden came back.
Yep. Yoshida was responsible for bringing one of the best games of this generation to playstation (Stellar Blade). He is an actual gamer and is in touch with what gamers want (creative, fun games, not GaaS and agenda pushing). He also seems like a genuinely nice guy if you watch some interviews. Of course they got rid of him.
Makes you wonder if MS even thought about hiring him after Phil and Sarah were leaving. He certainly couldn't make their situation any worse.
All the gamer/consumer lead heads are gone across PS and Xbox. shuhei gone phil's gone (questionable) but gone. The future of gaming is somewhat uncertain across the board.
CNN actually wrote a decent article for once. Amazing. I'd have to say that Sony if anyone can get themselves out of this mess. They have the resources. Maybe they just need some fresh new management.
Finally, an article worth reading! Thank-you Captain Tuttle.
Go Sony.
My dear Lord, a well written article.
:o
With that said, I hope Sony can get out of this situation.
"Stringer's four lieutenants last month joined Fortune at a sushi restaurant atop a skyscraper near the Tokyo Tower. At first all were reserved, but they loosened up when Stringer joined the table a few minutes later, taking off their ties when he did. The mood lightened even further when Stringer traded in a cranberry juice for a sake. The group swapped tales of isolation in the field -- Yoshioka did a lonely stint in Sweden, and Suzuki in the Middle East -- and made sport of some Sony executives who resist traveling because they don't want to leave their dogs."
Makes you realize how much these four guys really respect Stringer and what he's trying to do. That's a good sign that they can pull this off imo.
Good Luck Sir Howard.