Key Metrics
9.85
Heat Index-
Impact LevelMedium
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Scope LevelGlobal
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Last Update2025-08-08
Key Impacts
Positive Impacts (1)
Event Overview
This event reflects a strategic pivot in the gaming industry toward community-driven monetization models. The shift emphasizes sustained user engagement over product sales, prioritizing recurring revenue streams and digital ecosystems. Such transitions reshape competitive dynamics, requiring companies to balance hardware innovation with platform loyalty and content accessibility.
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Sony Announces Shift in Gaming Business Model from Hardware to Community and Engagement Platform
On June 30, 2025, during Sony Group's financial briefing for the quarter ended on that date, Senior Vice President Sadahiko Hayakawa announced that the company’s gaming business is transitioning from a hardware-centric model to a community and engagement-based platform model.
Hayakawa stated, "We are moving away from a hardware-centric business model more to a platform business that expands the community and increases engagement." He explained that Sony is pursuing a global shift towards creative content across its games, music, and pictures divisions, which together account for 60% of the company’s total revenue.
The executive illustrated this shift with examples, such as moving emphasis from output devices like televisions to creation devices such as digital cameras. He also cited expanded digital services, including music streaming, music catalogs, the anime streaming platform Crunchyroll, and collaborations with Bandai Namco Entertainment to develop new content and intellectual property.
In gaming, the transition towards a platform-based business is marked by actions like releasing PlayStation first-party exclusive titles on PC. Further evidence of Sony’s multiplatform direction emerged with a job listing for a Senior Director of Multiplatform and Account Management, who would report directly to the Vice President of Commercial Management. This role is tasked with leading the commercial strategy for PlayStation titles across platforms including Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox, Nintendo, and mobile, and with creating a global commercial roadmap to extend these titles beyond Sony’s hardware.
Hayakawa emphasized that this transformation aligns with Sony Group’s broader move towards entertainment creation to enhance long-term company stability and profitability.