Sony

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Sony

Basic information
Founded	1946
Type	Public
Industry	Conglomerate
Official website	https://sony.com/

Sony Group Corporation is a Japanese Zaibatsu (or mega corporation) headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group Corporation owns over 100 companies including, but not limited to Sony Semiconductor Solutions, Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group), Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Financial Group, Crunchyroll, and Bungie.

Sony was established in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. The young company distinguished itself in the consumer electronics market with transistor radios, home video tape recorders, portable audio players called the Walkman, and compact disk players. In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records. Later, in 1989 it acquired Columbia Pictures. The company also introduced the home video game console PlayStation in 1994.

Consumer impact summary

Sony has found itself involved in many controversies in the past, most commonly consumer rights and management of digital content issues. They have included instances such as Sony BMG rootkit in 2005, where copy protection software tracked users in secret and added security holes, which were the target of lawsuits and recalls. Sony has also had run-ins with digital content access, like trying to close down the PlayStation Store on older systems and removing "forever" licenses on Funimation content, which was met with pushback and reversal.

More recently, the mandatory PSN account requirement mandated by Sony in Helldivers 2 and binding arbitration provisions in Crunchyroll's terms of service have been criticized as restrictive of user choice and access.

Controversies

Controversy	Year	Background Info	Aftermath	Related Article	Related Video(s)
Sony BMG CD copy protection rootkit	2005	Sony BMG distributed about 20 million discs preloaded with copy protection software that tracks the users listening habits (even if the user did not agree to the EULA), hides itself, and introduces exploitable bugs. As such it has been classified as a rootkit. Furthermore, they released an uninstaller tool later that merely un-hides their original rootkit and installs more un-removable software, all while extracting more personal information (e-mail addresses) from users.	Class action lawsuits in 2005-2006 forced Sony to recall about 10% of affected CDs. Sony stopped their copy protection attempts in 2007.
PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray AACS License Renewal	2006	The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key of Sony PlayStation 3 devices must be renewed every 12 to 18 months via software updates.	TBD. At some point, software updates will no longer be released, which will eventually lock out users from this functionality.
PlayStation Store Shutdown	2021	Sony intended to shut down the PlayStation Store on its PS3, PS Vita, and PSP consoles, despite many of the content offerings not being available on newer consoles.	Sony walked back the decision for the PS3 and PS Vita, citing the negative response from customers.
Removal of Discovery titles	2023	Sony intended to remove customers' access to "purchased" Discovery Channel content at the end of their licensing agreements.	Sony reversed the decision, allowing customers to continue accessing the content.	Sony's attempted removal of "purchased" content
Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement	2024	Sony added a PSN account requirement for Helldivers 2 after the game had become popular, including for countries where you can't create a PSN account.	The requirement was removed, however the game was removed from sale in countries without PSN.
Revocation of "Forever" licenses to Funimation digital content	2024	After merging Funimation with Crunchyroll, Sony revoked all licenses to digital content that had been advertised as "forever" licenses without providing a refund or reimbursement.	Some users received free months of service for the new Crunchyroll platform, but only if they submitted a ticket.	Funimation "Forever" Content License Revocation
Crunchyroll January 2025 Terms of Service Update	2025	Sony forced users of Crunchyroll into binding arbitration by updating their terms of service and without providing an easy way to opt-out.	TBD	Crunchyroll January 2025 Terms of Service Update

Products

• Sony's WF-1000XM4 earbuds
• Sony x900h television
• Sony WH-1000XM5