Sony has announced plans to merge its Asian and Japanese units. The company revealed the news in a corporate news release on its Japanese site but offered no statement or explanation for the decision. The release states Sony's intention to "abolish" Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Sony Computer Entertainment Asia and form another unit called Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia.
Though Sony provided little in the way of information, it did provide details on who'll be running the show. Hiroshi Kawano, who previously served as the President of SCE Japan, will now be President of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia. Though Kawano will head up this new Japan Asia division, Hiroyuki Oda, previously President of SCE Asia, will stay on as the Deputy President for the Asia HQ. No doubt there will be reductions in staff from overlapping departments, but Sony didn't offer any indication as to how many will be affected.
No doubt the decision to combine operations in Japan and the rest of Asia was made to save money. As Engadget points out, Sony's finances haven't been as healthy as the company would like as of late. The news comes as Sony prepares to launch the next iteration of its PlayStation console, the PS4.
As we said, there hasn't been any official statement from Sony on the issue, which is a little strange. We'll keep you in the loop and updated with any official statement as soon as it arrives.
