On the eve of Sony’s much-awaited PlayStation-centric press conference at E3 2012 comes some stunning news: Sony’s stock fell below 1,000 Yen (or $12.79) for the first time since 1984 during trading in Japan on Monday.
CNBC Tweeted the ominous news, noting the information in a brief “Market Flash.” Reuters expanded upon the news, stating that although Sony’s stock did indeed fall below the 1,000 Yen threshold, it “eased 1.3 percent” to bring it back up to 1,000 Yen before trading ended.
Bad news has been flowing about Sony’s financial health all year. Its credit and debt ratings were downgraded in February on the heels of a massive quarterly loss. Such a financial reality caused Sony to outline new plans for the future while planning to layoff 10,000 workers. The maelstrom of bad news caused the New York Times to declare that Sony is in the fight of its life.
Although the PlayStation brand is considered healthy, poor sales of the PSP’s successor, the PlayStation Vita, have called into question how to measure the new handheld’s success. Meanwhile, the financial downturn Sony has encountered forced the company to shutter two of its 15 fully-owned development studios in 2012, a historic move considering Sony only shuttered one of its development houses total since PlayStation premiered in Japan in 1994. BigBig Studios, the UK-based studio responsible for the Pursuit Force franchise on PSP and Little Deviants on Vita, closed in early January. Soon thereafter, Zipper Interactive, the American developer best-known for the SOCOM franchise, as well as MAG and Unit 13, was also closed.
Whether or not Sony’s announcements at E3 help bring the stock price back up or not remains to be seen, though investors will certainly be watching the company’s plans concerning its valuable PlayStation brand eagerly to see what’s in store.
