Andrew House Stresses the Importance of United Sony

Sony is not in a good position. While core elements of its business – including the PlayStation division – are ticking over nicely, the company as a whole is bleeding money. The worry for Sony is that it’s been struggling for a while.

But while the company's situation is becoming all too familiar from the outside, key changes are being made internally to ensure the Japanese giant’s future. The biggest – and most notable – alteration revolves around the appointment of Kaz Hirai as group president. The former PlayStation executive recently noted his intention to unite the company under a single umbrella, a philosophy which he dubbed “One Sony”. His replacement at the head of Sony Computer Entertainment, Andrew House, believes that the strategy will be fundamental to changing the company’s fortunes moving forward.

Speaking candidly about the internal struggles with CVG, House said:

There's obviously a heightened sense of concern and urgency in the company, given the overall financial situation. I think Kaz has been very clear about communicating that sense of urgency, and gone are the days when individual divisions' concerns would somehow overreach the major challenges of the organisation overall.

On the positive side, there's a tremendous sense of teamwork and a sense of shared objective, which is to turn around the situation we have right now. And I think we benefit from some very strong clarity from Kaz, both internally and externally, and with the same message to both. "One Sony" is the mantra: it's about pulling together the resources of the company in the best way possible, and with no fiefdoms and no infighting to be tolerated.

House continued that he believes the PlayStation business can make a strong contribution to the company's overall health. “There’s pressure, obviously, in terms of being able to deliver, but we’re in a spot where we are making a profitable contribution, and there are opportunities for us to invest in the future,” he explained.

Hirai – whose primary task right now is to resurrect Sony’s ailing television department – announced his departure from the SCE board earlier this week. Expect more sweeping changes to take place within Sony over the next couple of years.