Inside PlayStation's Plans to Lead a $200 Billion Industry

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gaming is a $200 billion industry that dwarfs Hollywood — and PlayStation is at the center of it all. On this week’s episode of Bold Names, Sony Interactive Entertainment SVP Eric Lempel joins WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins to discuss how the company plans to compete in a mobile-first gaming world. We talk about keeping the “soul” of game development as artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into businesses, the success of games like “Fortnite” and “The Last of Us,” and what the next decade holds for the console wars. To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com. Check Out Past Episodes: Let us know what you think of the show. Email us at [email protected]. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Read Christopher Mims’s Keywords column. Read Tim Higgins’s column. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What was the first video game that really hooked you?
0:03.5	I believe it was an Odyssey 500.
0:05.8	The electronic game of the future.
0:07.8	Odyssey easily attaches to any brand TV.
0:09.8	This was a flat panel with three dials on each side.
0:14.1	And if I recall correctly, it had three or four games, something very primitive.
0:19.9	But what shocked me was that I was controlling something on the TV.
0:24.4	And TV was something you just sat there and you watched.
0:26.5	It was very passive.
0:27.8	Now games are more advanced than ever.
0:30.7	I mean, they're giant productions.
0:32.7	You're trying to show people that gaming is really the best form of entertainment for many.
0:40.0	This week on bold names, we have Eric Lempel.
0:43.8	He is Senior Vice President of Business and Product at Sony Interactive Entertainment.
0:49.8	Now, Sony owns PlayStation, which means Eric spends a lot of time thinking about video games, that
0:55.2	booming industry.
0:56.8	And because video games and entertainment are increasingly synonymous, even if you're
1:00.7	not a gamer, so much of what we all consume every day is affected by video games.
1:08.2	From the Wall Street Journal, I'm Christopher Mims.
1:11.4	And I'm Tim Higgins.
1:12.3	This is Bold Names, where you'll hear from the leaders of the bold name companies featured in the Wall Street Journal.
1:19.2	Today we ask, what does the future of gaming look like?
	...

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