14 DAY TRIAL // We live in tough times, as the recession is taking its toll on a lot of corporations out there. The same happens with the ones operating in the gaming industry, although a lot of analysts and executives claimed that almost all of the companies that produced or published games would be fine.
We've already seen Factor 5 and Free Radical being shut down or having a drastic portion of their workforce reduced, but the financial crisis has even affected the producer of the PlayStation 3, Sony. After having reported some time ago about the fact that it planned to cut a lot of jobs, it seems that the Japanese company is going to take even more drastic measures.
According to a report made by Reuters, Sony will close down several factories it has in Japan along with a few departments from its worldwide branches. The Japanese company was quick to respond, denying such a thing, but it seems that the strong yen will definitely impact the company, which sells its products, be they PlayStation 3 consoles or Bravia flat screen TVs, across the world.
“We do not plan to announce additional restructuring measures at this time,” spokesman Atsuo Omagari said, in response to the report. “We don't have any such plan.” This statement is disapproved by some analysts claiming that, although the jobs cut in December helped the company to some extent, further measures must be taken in order to ensure that a profit will be made at the beginning of this new year.
Although the Japanese company is facing some tough times, it seems that, according to its Entertainment division executives, the PlayStation 3 might bring a considerable amount of money into the bank accounts of the big electronics corporation. Let's just hope that this recession won't affect the investments made in the PS3 and in the first-party games that the company plans to develop and release for it.