Sony says its focus is on creativity across games, movies, music, sensors, intellectual property, not gadgets

TOKYO — Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony says it focuses on creativity in movies, animation and video games, not old-fashioned gadgets.

Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida outlined the company’s strategy on Thursday, saying Sony helps creative professionals deliver what he called a “kando,” or moving, experience.

Yoshida did not comment on the reports that Tokyo-based Sony and Apollo Global Management are interested in buying Paramount Global.

Yoshida said the company now emphasizes the creative process itself rather than prized products of the past such as the Walkman portable music player and Trinitron color televisions. He said “synergy” no longer exists between entertainment and electronics, but is defined by intellectual property spanning animation, music, games and films.

“We will continue to support people’s creativity through our technology,” he said during an online briefing.

Sony is adapting to tougher times, and rivals are producing cheaper but competitive electronics. Critics say venturing into movies, music and other entertainment can be unprofitable.

Starting with its acquisition of EMI Music Publishing in 2018, Sony has invested approximately 1.5 trillion yen ($10 billion) over the past six years to improve content creation.

In 2021, it acquired Crunchyroll, which has over 13 million paid subscribers and delivers Japanese animation worldwide. Another was Yoasobi, a Japanese music duo using Vocaloid technology, a voice synthesizer software that attracts fans around the world.

Sony’s real-time processing technology, which captures “the moment,” as Yoshida puts it, is used in cameras at sporting events because it can capture fast-moving objects without distortion.

According to Yoshida, it is also used for news editing and editing, and in 3D video and computer graphics, including blockbuster films such as “Godzilla Minus One” and games based on the movements of human athletes.

Sony recently announced that its quarterly profit rose to 189 billion yen ($1.2 billion) from 141 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales from the PlayStation arcade maker rose 14% to 3.48 trillion yen ($22 billion).

However, in the fiscal year ending in March, Sony reported a 3% decline in profit to 970 billion yen ($6.2 billion) due to weak performance in its financial services segment, which will be partially spun off next year.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama