Andrew House, president and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), has admitted 2011 was a rough period for the electronics giant, and said that “a lot rests” on the success of the firm’s new handheld, PlayStation Vita.
Chatting with The Guardian, House said that while Sony had a tough time of it last year, it did ultimately result in a sense of unity among employees.
"Yes, it has been a pretty tough year, no question," said House. "If I draw a positive out of it, I think that has been unity in the face of adversity… I think it has had the effect of pulling the company together.”
"For the PlayStation business, there was the hacking incident. Not to sound like an excuse, but we’re now in very solid company with many other institutions and companies suffering under the same sort of threat. But it galvanised us.: we’ve hired an extremely experienced chief information security officer.”
"It’s important for the employee base – certainly here in Japan – that there is something of a morale boost with a great product launch," House added.
Looking to the future, House remains positive of the year ahead, and with the western release of PlayStation Vita pencilled in for February 22, the executive feels gamers have a lot to look forward to.
"From the SCE perspective, I think a lot rests on the success of PS Vita. We went through a very tough time in the company in getting to a point of [PlayStation] profitability, and I think we’re now beginning to enjoy the benefits of that – it gives us some more leeway in being able to look at the future and areas of new investment in terms of new business models and new approaches to gaming."
"It looks to be a far more positive year, I hope, than 2011, and one that yields great benefits to gamers around the world."