Do we like Sony?
Tokyo-based maker of PlayStation consoles, cameras, TVs and chips. It also runs a film studio, a music label and financial services.
Our score: 6 out of 10. A mostly solid, well-run giant with a credible climate plan. Against that, there are several big PlayStation Store pricing cases and past fines. We'd back it, with some caution.
Sony is a Tokyo company founded in 1946. It makes electronics, games, music and films, and also runs financial services. Hiroki Totoki, a Sony lifer who joined in 1987, took over as CEO in April 2025. He took over from Kenichiro Yoshida.
The big drama now is the PlayStation Store. In the UK, consumer campaigner Alex Neill accuses Sony of overcharging about 12 million players. A 10-week tribunal has finished, and no ruling had been reported in what we found. Sony denies it and says its model is justified by security and privacy.
In the US, Sony settled a similar antitrust class action for $7.85m without admitting wrongdoing. A judge rejected an earlier version of the deal. Payouts are in store credit, from about $0.91 to $33.66 each. A Dutch claim worth over €400m has also been reported.
Older skeletons: the UK data watchdog fined Sony £250,000 over the 2011 PlayStation Network hack and said the attack could have been prevented. The European Commission also fined Sony and its subsidiaries €31m in 2015 over optical disk drives. Sony appealed that fine.
On the green side, Sony has an SBTi-approved goal of net zero across its value chain by 2040. It reported beating its 2025 site-emission and renewable-power targets. That earns a decent score, but the pricing cases keep it from going higher.