Sony 'Streamlining' Possible Worldwide

Sony's global game group operations may see more 'streamlining measures' such as those recently proposed by SCEE which threatened to cut nearly 10 percent of its workforce, according to a Sony Computer Entertainment spokeman. Despite recent consensus that Sony's game group could be on a short path to recovery from its current losses, a new Reuters report quotes SCE spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka as saying "other regional operations, such as those in the United States and Japan, could also take some streamlining measures," though he ads that "nothing has been decided." Reuters quotes Fukuoka as saying that the restructuring has little to do with the recent worldwide launch and sales of the PS3, but rather are "a response to changes in the game industry, including a shift to online distribution of software from packaged software sales." As earlier reported, analysts have predicted that PlayStation creator Sony Corp. will report a profit increase of around 500 percent at the end of the company’s next financial year, with the game division expected to recover from a current fiscal year operating loss of ¥200 billion ($1.69bn). A consensus forecast of analysts suggested overall profits for the company of ¥400 billion ($3.37bn), with sales up 6 percent to ¥8.7 trillion ($73.34bn) for the twelve months ending March 2008.