Sony announces what might be the start of several waves of job cuts have occurred recently with 2000 laid off and the majority from their Playstation division.
While Sony is calling the layoffs as part of an "early retirement" plan, the real reason is due to the desperate need to stop the massive hemorrhaging of their cash reserves. The previous quarter alone saw net loses of roughly $310 million and roughly 2x more than the same period last year.
The overall job cuts are expected to be in the 10,000 range with their Playstation and electronic divisions to be affected the most. The goal for Sony is to try to save $378 million as part of next year's fiscal report and to lessen the impact of their restructuring program which will cost them $975 million.
Quote:
The company says that it is making the changes to “revitalize and grow” its electronics business and it says that it is expecting to save $378 million (30 billion yen) annually from next year. The basis of the changes was laid back in April when the firm announced that it would reduce its headcount by 10,000 — including 3,000-4,000 in Japan — as it implements a $945 million (75 billion yen) restructuring program.
The PlayStation-maker is haemorrhaging cash and its most recent financial results, published in August, saw income before tax plummet 59 percent to hit $118.5 million (9.4 billion yen). Net losses for the three-month period grew to $310 million (24.6 billion yen), up from $195.3 million (15.5 billion yen) a year previous.
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In terms of short-term impact towards the Playstation division, Sony themselves had hinted before this holiday season wouldn't see the same level of marketing support for the Vita and PS3 as Sony normally does this time of year. The Vita can't get a price cut while their plan is to just release a bunch of games and hope they sell well without massive marketing.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...tirement-plan/
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Daily Recap:
* Microsoft "retires" the Twitter and Facebook apps from the Xbox Live Dashboard.
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...360-dashboard/
http://www.destructoid.com/xbox-live...y-237065.phtml
* Update to LightBox Interactive story as the company will still support Starhawk on PSN but it won't be funded by Sony anymore.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/some-u...s-future/4423/
* Lego Batman 2 will be ported as a DVD/Blu-ray film with it basically being the game's cutscenes played in order.
http://www.screwattack.com/video/Leg...-movie-3067726
http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...u-ray-in-2013/