TOKYO – In a surprise conference call late Tuesday night, Sony’s Computer Entertainment president Kai Hirai announced that Sony would be shutting down its PlayStation division, deciding to, instead, reallocate funds into research and development for Universal Media Disks, or UMDs. 

“It’s obvious that we will not be able to compete in the current market,” Hirai said, sounding pleased, “even after establishing a competitive price point we’re still being outsold by our competitor two to one, and we cannot afford, as a company, to continue operating in the red. The PlayStation 3 isn’t the Blu-Ray player we hoped it was going to be.”Kaz went on to compare the system’s price to other Blu-Ray players on the market, citing the competition at Samsung and Panasonic, whose products do everything that the PlayStation 3 could at a lower price, all without the strangely shaped remote controller.

Though acknowledging their legacy in the industry, Hirai sounded optimistic about Sony’s future as a multimedia giant, citing the “surging” UMD market, which he described as a “an obvious step” for the company. 

During questioning Kaz spoke briefly on the PlayStation legacy, from its roots as a CD player, adolescence as a DVD device, and adulthood as a Blu-Ray machine.

When asked if it would consider launching a stand-alone, set top version of the system with a focus on movies over games, Hirai paused, whispered to his advisors, and asked the speaker to repeat the question.

[Source]

Related Articles:

LittleBigPlanet Delayed. Again.

Phil Harrison Resigns from SCEI

Kaz Would Rather Be Murdered than to Get Gears 2 for PS3