(Yicai Global) May 25 -- Sony intends to muster the strength of its entire group to take advantage of China’s economic recovery, with entertainment-related content the future focus of its business in the country, the president of the Japanese conglomerate’s China arm said.

China is a very important market for Sony, Takeshi Yoshida said at a media briefing organized yesterday for the Sony Expo 2023. The showcase event is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from May 25 to 28.

The Chinese market has undergone tremendous changes, and the Generation Z demographic has developed its own characteristics, so Sony must go all in to satisfy their needs, Yoshida said. Only in this way can Sony achieve sustainable business growth in China, he added.

To that end, Sony China will promote the integration of various businesses under the banner of ‘One Sony,’ enhancing the synergy and coordination of its content and hardware products, Yoshida said, adding that the group should exploit the advantages of its own content products and promote its hardware products in combination with content to create a more robust differentiated competitiveness.

Over half of Sony’s global revenue comes from the entertainment business, which includes games, music, movies, and television series, Yoshida said. But hardware sales remain the main revenue contributor of Sony China, so it is clear that the entertainment business should become Sony China’s focus in the future.

When talking about Sony’s investment strategy in the country, Yoshida used a popular Chinese expression -- “growth is the absolute standard” -- to describe the measuring stick. Sony needs to keep up with the local growth, he said, but at the same time, still keep a calm mindset in making investment decisions in certain sectors such as data management.

“We’ll strive to seize every potential growth opportunity,” he said.

R&D Focus

Sony China’s research and development center will focus on fifth- and sixth-generation mobile networks, artificial intelligence, robotics, environmental protection, and other technologies, and use this cutting-edge tech to empower its entertainment and electronics products, Yoshida noted.

Sony has already begun figuring out ways to cope with China’s electric vehicle market, which is undergoing huge changes, he said.

Earlier this year, Tokyo-based Sony joined hands with Japanese carmaker Honda Motor to set up a joint venture to develop the next generation of EVs. Sony plans to use its music and movie resources to turn the inside of cars into an entertainment space, while its technological capabilities in the sensor field will help make car travel safer.

Patchy Recovery

The Chinese market has picked up since January, but the recovery varies from industry to industry, Yoshida noted. For example, the tourism sector’s recovery is quite impressive, while the property sector’s is generally lukewarm, so the performance of Sony’s camera business has been really good since the start of the year, while its TV business has picked up rather slowly.

Sony China’s immediate market strategy will focus on the segments that have recovered strongly, such as tourism, by launching new cameras and smartphones and strengthening the promotion of products that target online influencers and bloggers, Yoshida pointed out.

At the upcoming Sony Expo 2023, the company will showcase new devices, including the Sony Xperia 1V handset, which has the same quality image texture as movies, and an ultra wide-angle zoom vlogging camera, as well as new games, animations, and many other entertainment content and products.

Sony also revealed yesterday the three games it has added to the third phase of its China Hero Project. Tatsuo Eguchi, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Shanghai, said the project aims to support promising Chinese console game developers come up with localized games and help those products go global.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione