In an interview with the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, Nicolai Tangem, the CEO of Sony, Kenichiro Yoshida, discussed a wide range of topics related to the businesses that the Japanese company operates. As a technology-focused publication, what drew our attention were the plans that Yoshida revealed for Sony’s gaming department, which includes PlayStation, and artificial intelligence (AI), and that’s exactly what we are going to talk about in this article. Let’s take a look.
Sony plans to launch more PlayStation games on PC
When Nicolai asked Yoshida about how he sees the future of gaming, Yoshida replied by saying “In short, it will be ubiquitous. Wherever there is computing, users will be able to play their favorite games seamlessly.” He further added, “While PlayStation will remain our core product, we will expand our gaming experiences to PC, mobile, and cloud.” These statements suggest that Sony is planning to bring more of the company’s games, which are currently exclusive to PlayStation, to PC (Windows and Mac) in the near future.
An analysis report from Newzoo shows that this year, console gaming will grow by 1.9%, and PC gaming will grow by 3.9%. That means Sony has very little room to grow in the console segment, especially when you consider that it will also have to fight with Microsoft and Nintendo. So, if the brand wants to expand its gaming business even further, it’ll have to move into PC gaming, and that’s what Sony seems to be planning to do. Nintendo is also taking a similar approach. Microsoft, on the other hand, is already into PC gaming.
Sony wants to use AI to help creators, not replace them
Coming to AI, Nicolai asked Yoshida how he thinks this technology will change the way we consume entertainment. Replying to the question, Yoshida said “The convergence of computing and entertainment is a megatrend, and AI is also born out of computing. So, we cannot get in the way of technology but at the same time, entertainment is a people business. For example, it is technically possible to create a movie scene in which Tom Hanks speaks Japanese with perfect lip sync but should we? That is a question.”
“The content that forms the basis of entertainment is creator-generated and copyrighted. [The] creator’s involvement is essential. Therefore, Sony positions AI as a technology that supports creators. AI should not replace them. One example is [a] game. [A] game is computer software. It is made by programming language. LLM, large language model[s], will help streamline game development allowing creators to focus more on creativity.” It suggests that Sony wants to use AI to help creators rather than replace them.
