■ Entertainment Mid-Range Plan Meetings

From November 9 to 12, we held the Mid-Range Plan Meetings for our entertainment businesses online. Through this event, I gained a renewed sense of the importance our businesses are placing on our direction of "getting closer to creators," and the initiatives that are being implemented to achieve this.

During the Entertainment Business Mid-term Strategy Meeting
(composite image)

This year, in addition to presentations from the heads of each of our entertainment business, we also heard from Katsumoto-san, Kitano-san, and Kodera-san on the subject of R&D, AI and DX (Digital Transformation), which are now also integral to the entertainment businesses. Despite the shift to increased online communication during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to maintain vibrant and interactive discussion among the leadership team, and I will continue to value these types of opportunities for dialogue moving forward.

■ VENICE 2 Announcement

The advances we are making in "getting closer to creators" throughout our businesses is also reflected in our recent product announcements. VENICE 2, our flagship high-end digital cinema camera announced on November 16, is creation hardware that is vital to Virtual Production, which I discussed at the most recent Group Quarterly Meeting. We launched two models, one equipped with our newly developed 8.6K full-frame CMOS image sensor, and the other with the acclaimed 6K image sensor used in our current VENICE model. These are products that underline our commitment to addressing all aspects of the shooting environment and enabling creators to fully express their vision. I look forward to seeing the future development of this lineup.

VENICE 2
8.6K sensor model (left), and 6K sensor model (right)

■ One Year Anniversary of PlayStation®5 (PS5™)

November 12 marked the anniversary of the first year since the launch of PS5. A major step in our direction of "getting closer to users" and the embodiment of both Reality and Real-time, PS5 continues to deliver new experiences to the gaming community around the world.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) recently shared information on the total gameplay and content broadcast hours of PS5 players for the first year since PS5's launch. In this timeframe, PS5 gamers have collectively played more than 4.6 billion hours of gameplay, with the top ten games played based on gameplay hours listed below. As you can see, titles that you can enjoy with friends and in which the game itself evolves, rank above single player titles where completion is the target.

　1. Fortnite
　2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
　3. FIFA 21
　4. NBA 2K21
　5. Assassin's Creed Valhalla
　6. Destiny 2
　7. MLB® The Show™ 21^*
　8. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales^*
　9. Demon's Souls^*
　10. NBA 2K22
　* No. 7-9 are PlayStation Studios titles

Although the supply of PS5 hardware is also being impacted by disruption to the global distribution supply chain and limitations on the supply of components, everyone at SIE is doing their utmost to overcome these challenges. We will continue our efforts to deliver as many units as possible to our customers, while also aiming to meet and exceed the expectations of the gaming community with the release of exciting new titles.

As always, I look forward to receiving your thoughts and feedback.