Battling for Entertainment Dollars: 7 Major Companies in the Video Game Market

MARCH 5, 2013 • As we discussed recently in Can Sony & Nintendo Recover? one of the great ironies of 2012 was that Sony and Nintendo were not able to take advantage of strong consumer excitement over digital devices.  Hardware is clearly not a commodity and this should be good news for game hardware manufacturers that specialize in providing unique, proprietary systems.  Unfortunately, w.....

Can Sony And Nintendo Recover?

FEB. 21, 2013 • The year 2012 clearly showed that even in the age of easy digital distribution consumers love their physical products.  Among other things, this has included expensive hardware designed mainly to play digital content.  Having the coolest hardware device to access the Internet has suddenly become an important status symbol in society.  Unfortunately for the game industry, traditional game hardware manufacturers were not able to ride that trend.....

Sony Confirms PlayStation 4 release

FEB. 20, 2013 • As expected, Sony Computer Entertainment used its press event at the Hammerstein Ballroom within New York City’s Manhattan Center to provide the first official details on the PlayStation 4 release. The new system is slated for a holiday release this year, but no pricing details were announced. SCE chief executive Andrew House framed the new console as, “a significant shift from thinking of PlayStation as a box or console to thinking .....

Vita Price Slashed In Japan

FEB. 19, 2013 • In its first broad move since announcing that PlayStation Vita first-year targets had been reduced down to 7 million units sold by March 31, Sony Computer Entertainment said street Vita prices in Japan would be reduced significantly on Feb 28.  On that date, both the ¥29,980 ($320) 3G and the ¥24,980 ($266) WiFi models would now retail at ¥19,980 ($213). No price changes were an.....

PlayStation 2 Production Ends

JAN. 4, 2013 • On Dec. 28, Famitsu reported that Sony Computer Entertainment had ceased shipping PlayStation 2s to Japanese retailers. All existing inventory in-channel would be sold off until no more remained. No other territories were mentioned in the report, and Sony has remained mum on furt.....

Sony Details PlayStation 3 Redesign

SEPT. 20, 2012 • Sony will ship a refresh of the PlayStation 3 for the holidays. The PlayStation 3 redesign benefits from a re-engineering of its internal components that nets a 25% reduction in weight, and a 20% space savings compared to the current model on sale. Stacked up against the original launch version, the savings in weight and space are more than 50%. Three new SKUs are shipping between September and October. Arriving first in North America on Sept. 2.....

Sony Acquires Gaikai

JULY 2, 2012 • A month removed from the Electronic Entertainment Expo one of the bigger rumors from the show has come to pass: Sony Computer Entertainment has acquired cloud streaming service Gaikai for $380 million. With plenty of electronic devices that can benefit from Gakai’s network, the acquisition is clear win for Sony at a modest cost investment. Sony fully intends to utilize Gaikai as the foundation of its own cloud delivery service. What Sony wil.....