Recently, Sony (NYSE:SONY) brought out one of its biggest events of a typical year, its “State of Play” event. State of Play is a Sony-heavy showcase in which it gets to show off what it’s likely to release in the upcoming several months. And with Sony having kept quiet for some time in advance of that, a lot of this came out of nowhere. That wasn’t all Sony had to show, though, and SONY shares finished 1.9% higher in today’s trading session.
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Sony had quite a bit to show, though it kept the total presentation to about 30 minutes or so overall. It rolled out a port of “God of War Ragnarök” to PC, as well as new 5v5 shooters “Marvel Rivals” and “Concord.” Sony’s rival for Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA), Skydance, brought a game in the form of “Behemoth,” which has a lot of “Shadow of the Colossus” vibe to it, though it’s also a first-person VR title.
Further, remakes of “Silent Hill 2” and “Until Dawn” showed up, and perhaps stealing the show was a title with a face made for marketing, “Astro Bot,” who’s getting another round starting September 6.
A Move to AI
In a move that will likely have the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild frantically shuffling through their contracts, Sony also noted that it was going to turn to artificial intelligence (AI) to produce movies in “more efficient ways.” But with another major union’s—the crew union—negotiations already in play, and the contract set to expire July 31, AI may prove a sticking point again that shuts down yet another season of production.
Given what happened with the Memorial Day weekend’s numbers, Sony’s aspirations toward letting computers do the jobs of humans to save money may not go over well. And with Fable emerging—a studio that lets users make their own shows outright using AI—it may be a matter of time until Sony itself is irrelevant as cottage studios make their own shows for their own consumption.
Is SONY Stock a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on SONY stock based on four Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 15.09% loss in its share price over the past year, the average SONY stock price target of $112.93 per share implies 37.12% upside potential.
