Sony Goes on PS3 PR Offensive

Facing shareholder pressure to show performance, Sony executives are becoming increasingly vocal in public about their plans to correct the listing PlayStation division.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal and at a meeting of shareholders, new PlayStation head Kazuo Hirai and CEO Howard Stringer both said changes were already underway to improve the unit's performance.

Stung by a $2 billion USD loss in the fiscal year ending in March, Sony is aiming to cut that to a little over $404 million this year. Working more closely with video game developers is chief in their plans.

Both Hirai and Stringer say that at least 380 new PS3 games will be made available this fiscal year, which will give the console roughly 500 titles by that time. The company will also take advantage of features exclusive to the PS3.

According to figures, only about 3.6 million of the 5.5 million PS3 consoles Sony said it had shipped have made it to retail, compared to almost twice that for the Wii and three times that for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Even with the continuing struggles of Sony vis a vis the PS3, Stringer is by no means giving up. "PlayStation 3 going forward will be vital to our future and we'll succeed," Reuters quoted him as saying to investors.

Still missing from the equation, however, is any mention of a possible price cut in the US for the console. Although its exact reasoning is unknown, its strategic price cut of 20 percent only was aimed at Japanese consumers and not elsewhere.