Troubled Sony relies on video games to reverse its fortunes

Sony has outlined a series of strategic initiatives including a focus on games, with which it hopes to revitalize its business after a particularly poor fiscal year. Dubbing the new approach "One Sony," the company plans to build on the strength of its core businesses: games, mobile and digital imaging. The plan is to concentrate investment and development in these three areas, with the aim to generate around 70 percent of total company sales, and 85 percent of total operating income from these three categories by the 2014 fiscal year. The "One Sony" initiative is the first major moves by Kaz Hirai, the former PlayStation boss who took the reins of Sony as president and CEO earlier this year. In terms of its games business, Sony plans to build more rapidly on its catalog of downloadable titles for both the PS3 and the PS Vita, and boost the effectiveness of its subscriptions services through the PSN platform. It is also looking to expand the lineup of the PlayStation Suite compatible devices and content. The overall aim is to achieve revenue of ¥1 trillion ($12.4 billion) from its games business by fiscal 2014, alongside an operating income margin of 8 percent. Sony also plans to aggressively expand its mobile technology for games, pushing for richer games content on its Sony Tablet and Vaio devices, and building on its Sony Entertainment Network platform. Elsewhere, the company also outlined numerous other efforts to turn its business around, including steps towards bolstering its television business, plans for expansion into emerging markets, and initiatives to create new businesses and accelerate innovation within the company. As part of this realignment plan, the company confirmed that around 10,000 jobs will be cut during the 2012 fiscal year, as previously rumored. This "One Sony" move comes as the company revised its 2011 fiscal year forecast to project losses of ¥520 billion ($6.4 billion), more than doubling its initial projection.