Special Feature - Tracing the Evolution of Sony as a Creative Entertainment Company

In fiscal year 2024, Sony began its fifth mid-range plan, with the theme of “Beyond the Boundaries: Maximize Synergies across the Group”. Sony's continued focus is on evolving initiatives to realize Group synergies, and on mid- to long-term growth for the three entertainment business segments of Game & Network Services, Music and Pictures, as well as the Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS) business. In fiscal 2023, the three entertainment businesses and the I&SS business accounted for 68% of the entire group's sales.

In a message included in the Corporate Report, Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida explains Sony's evolution focused on Kando and its shift towards creation, with the aim of contributing to creating Kando. In the following message, President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki provides a review of the fourth mid-range plan up to last fiscal year, and introduces the fifth mid-range plan. He then explains the “Creative Entertainment Vision”, Sony's long-term vision that outlines the worldview Sony is aiming for in a specific time frame of 10 years from now.

A special feature following these executive messages is “The Evolution of Sony as a Creative Entertainment Company.” It takes a look at the evolution of the ever-growing entertainment business and the changes in the external business environment through data, and then focuses on three particularly notable examples: anime, music and creation technology.

The first example, anime, outlines Sony’s efforts to maximize IP value through collaborations between entertainment businesses, focusing on Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), and Crunchyroll, a DTC service specializing in anime operated as a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Aniplex.

The second example, music, summarizes the achievement of the expansion of services to independent artists in emerging markets by Sony Music Entertainment and the use of music IP built up through strengthening of the music catalog by Sony Music Publishing, with numerical data. It also dives into the future prospects for the music business itself.

Finally, the third example, creation technology, highlights game engines such as Epic Games' Unreal Engine, and introduces examples of their use in video content production. In particular, it focuses on Torchlight, SPE's advanced visualization facility, and Virtual Production, a filming technique, while proving a lists of notable works that have used these technologies in the production process.

In addition, at the end of the special feature, there is a page with a message from Toshimoto Mitomo, Executive Deputy President and CSO, in which he introduces his mission as CSO as well as the direction of Sony's business development. He also provides examples that highlight Sony’s strengths, which include the breadth of its technologies and expertise, from producing content to delivering engaging experiences.

Structuring the Sustainability Section by Aligning with “Sony's Sustainability Vision”

One of the major changes in the Corporate Report 2024 is the structure of the sustainability section. To clearly articulate the direction in which the Sony Group aims to proceed to address a variety of sustainability issues, Sony established the Sustainability Vision in fiscal year 2023, with the goal to “inspire a world filled with emotion for this generation and beyond.” In the Corporate Report, the section was structured to introduce examples of Sony’s initiatives in line with the direction of activities from the three perspectives of People, Society and the Earth as defined in this vision. We have picked out and explained initiatives to support artists and creators and enhance accessibility under People, initiatives for responsible AI under Society and initiatives to address climate change across the value chain under Earth.

For more information about Sony's sustainability, please refer to the Sustainability Report 2024, published on August 30, 2024, which comprehensively covers non-financial information.

The Corporate Report is published every year based on discussions and dialogue held both internally as well as externally in terms of its content and information disclosure. This year, we have also made the report more creative, with an increased amount of charts and photos compared to the 2023 edition. In addition, starting from this year, we have switched to publishing the report online only and have changed the page layout. Each page has interactive functions, and by clicking links embedded in the text, readers can be directed to other pages within the Corporate Report or to external websites to access more detailed information. We are planning to add accessibility features such as text-to-speech for charts and graphs.

Based on Sony's Purpose, to "fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology", the Corporate Report shares with a wide range of stakeholders the company's management policy and business strategies, as well as the progress of various initiatives toward value creation from a long-term perspective centered on Kando and People. Please read the report, which covers the “present” Sony.

Corporate Report 2024 Overview

• Sony's Purpose & Values
• Sony's Identity
• Message from the CEO
• Message from the COO/CFO
• Special Feature: The Evolution of Sony as a Creative Entertainment Company
• Value Creation Model
• Value Creation
• R&D / Message from the CTO
• Employees / Message from the Officers in Charge of Human Resources
• Sustainability
• Financial Highlights
• Characteristics of Each Business
• Value Creation in Each Business
• Corporate Governance
• Group Information