LOS ANGELES, April 1, 2007 — Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today a new product strategy focused around the award winning PlayStation®2 (PS2â„¢) and PlayStation®Portable (PSPâ„¢) video game systems.

The PlayStation®2 and PlayStation®Portable systems represent the de facto standard in video game systems today. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. offers the strongest support to the wider entertainment market as a whole and re-affirms our commitment to the video game industry by providing continual support for these systems.

“When we looked at the market we realised the real opportunities for our investors are in the wider consumer space, we’ve sold well over 100 million PlayStation®2 systems worldwide, that is a huge revenue potential to tap into” says David Harrison Vice President of SCEE “in comparison the next-generation market is less than 15% of our PS2â„¢ customer base, with our own PLAYSTATION®3 offering at around 1% of the total video game market”

As a result all three manufacturing plants will over the course of the year switch production from PLAYSTATION®3 to PlayStation®2 and PlayStation®Portable, with our Taiwanese facilities finally stopping production on PLAYSTATION®3 this October.

Following this transition these facilities will begin to produce an updated version of the PlayStation®2, approximately 30% smaller than the slimline PlayStation®2, available in 12 different colors which will go on sale this fall in North America and Japan. An updated model of the PlayStation®Portable will also be announced later this year.

PLAYSTATION®3 customers need not worry “games already in development for PS3â„¢ will be unaffected by this decision and warrantees will continue to be fulfilled” says Peter Sims, Vice President of Platforms “our future focus however will be on providing great quality content at price points to maximize sales for our PS2â„¢ and PSPâ„¢ products”.

About Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Recognized as the global leader and company responsible for the progression of consumer-based computer entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) manufacturers, distributes and markets the PlayStation(R) game console and PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system. SCEI, along with its subsidiary divisions Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd. and Sony Computer Entertainment Korea Inc., develops, publishes, markets and distributes software, and manages the third party licensing programs for these two platforms in the respective markets worldwide. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is an independent business unit of the Sony Group.

About Sony
Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be a leading personal broadband entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of nearly $57 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002.

Listen to Adam being April fooled here.