It’s that time of year again. Financial reports come flooding the news rooms, in some cases resulting in “restructuring”–meaning layoffs and closing things down. Even a goliath like Sony can’t escape the industry ups and downs. Some parts of Sony are seeing red and closing doors, resulting in thousands worldwide losing their jobs. Other parts, like the gaming division are well into the black and look to hold steady.
The bad news first
Sony Corp. is a large company with many different divisions, or arms. They have their hands in many things like TVs, PCs, gaming, and phones. Unfortunately, due to projected $1.1 billion loss, Sony will be making some changes. According to Polygon, “Sony plans to sell its PC business, Vaio, and will spin-off its TV division into a separate company by July.”
This results in about 5,000 jobs being cut worldwide (let that number sink in for a bit). If only half have families to support, that’s a lot of people affected by this saddening news.
Now for the good news
On the other end, Sony’s game division is up 64% at the end of the third quarter. As of December 31, 2013, the PS4 is cutting slightly into the PS3 sales. The PS4 has already sold 4.2 million units, and Sony is maintaining its already projected $15 million PS3 and PS4 unified sales goal.
Due to the outstanding PS4 sales, the total revenue ended on a high note of $4.35 million. Sony admits exchange rates have helped with the numbers. Having released in some major markets like Japan, North America, and Europe, this number only stands to grow as it becomes available abroad.
A little food for thought
This industry faces a financial roller coaster: hiring frenzies, studios opening left and right, then at the end of a game or even once a profit turned, its “restructuring” time. As someone who finds the business side interesting and sometimes downright fascinating, it still doesn’t detract from the reality of the situation. People–real people with families, pets, friends–are the ones subjected to this type of instability.
I offer no viable solution, but my deepest sympathies to those affected by these layoffs. Hopefully some great opportunities arise for the folks who face such an unpleasant situation.
