Do Sony' Troubles Go Beyond The Video Game Sector?

Is Sony in more trouble than they are letting on? Apparently, times are tough for Sony in the music arena in addition to their well-known troubles so far this year in the video game world. Sony BMG is shutting down various studios including the one pictured above and laying off employees. I’m definitely not questioning the future of Sony. They always find ways to eventually bounce back, but so far this year has not looked good for them across the board. They need some good luck and some miracles across the board to save 2007. Sony is still a major player in many industries, but this year they have definitely taken some tough hits. Ironically, next year we could see the Sony PS3 pull them out of their funk.

It’s not just venues closing down these days, the latest real estate casualty is still music-related, however. AMNY reports that Sony BMG is closing its Hell’s Kitchen studios.Not surprisingly, the company alluded to difficult times in the recording industry when internally annoucing the five-story brick building (which resides on West 54th St and 10th Ave) will be shutting its doors this August. Employees received the memo on June 8th, also letting them know all jobs held in the building would be terminated. Yikes! It’s possible that some will be offered transfers, however.

The building is pretty historic, prior to Sony’s purchase of it in 1993, this is where Fox Movietone studios were once housed – meaning it was one of the first places to combine sound and film in the 1920s. “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Shaft” were even filmed there! More recently it was used for the “America: A Tribute to Heroes” bi-coastal telethon raising money for families of September 11th victims.