PlayStation 3 Slim Is the Sign of a New Spirit

Kaz Hirai, who is the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment, is saying that the release of the PlayStation 3 Slim marks a new beginning for the console business of Sony and that the company will again become the leader of the videogaming market. The remarks were made to the Financial Times as part of a wide-ranging interview.

Kaz Hirai referred to the internal atmosphere at Sony, saying that re-adopting the classic PS logo meant “I wanted to send the message internally that we are resetting the thinking, going back to our roots. What better way to do it than by resetting the logo? That puts the entire organization on its toes. On a practical level, when you have PlayStation 3 spelled out, the aspect ratio was such that if you wanted it on a billboard it became tiny. It didn't work in terms of visibility.”

Hirai has acknowledged that each unit of the PS3 sold costs Sony more money than it brings in but the health of the PlayStation business can only be evaluated when also looking at the revenue brought in by the videogames sold for the platform, which are generally profitable. He added that, hardware-wise, both Nintendo and Microsoft might be taking a loss on each unit moved out of the factory and to consumers.

The Sony leader has also insisted on the ten-year business cycle for the PlayStation 3, saying that longevity was one of the reasons for packing so much in the console. Pointing out that the Psone has sold about 102 million units and that the PlayStation 2 is now over 138 million worldwide, Hirai has underlined that the growth of the PS3 is somewhere between that registered by the two predecessors in their initial years.