Later this month, when Sony launches its sponsorship of the English National Opera's La Boheme, the Japanese giant will be sending a signal to the public.
It's not that PlayStation games like karaoke classic SingStar are preening a new generation of operatic divas - they're more likely to be Pop Idol than Puccini fans. And it's not about trying to bring PlayStation fans into the upper reaches of highbrow culture. To be honest, most gamers would only be happy if Rodolfo shot up the stage, Grand Theft Auto-style.
No, what Sony is telling us with such a high-profile deal is that the days of having fun are no more. Instead of appealing to ordinary games fans, Sony wants to start selling to the jewellery jangling audiences and resurrect the halcyon days when it was the sleekest brand on the high street.
The company has pumped more than £1m into high-falutin' sponsorships at some of Britain's brainiest institutions, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Film Institute and Sadler's Wells theatre. Where it leaves ordinary plebs who have been loyal to the PlayStation for a decade or more remains to be seen.
But what else can we expect if this trend continues?
Grand Theft Horseback: Set in the mean underbelly of the Badminton horse trials, you control Tarquin - a renegade equestrian rider with a mean streak and a bad temper.
The Queen - The Game: Movie tie-ins are all the rage for the gaming fraternity, and this award-winning Stephen Frears number is no different. It's set in the days after the death of Princess Diana and you use the PlayStation controller to move the monarch between a staggering array of emotional states: stoic, resolute and fearlessly patriotic.
SingStar Aria: Fancy yourself as a budding Pavarotti? Then sing along to your favourite operatic moments in this interactive karaoke game with a difference! Stick that up your Covent Garden, Dame Kiri - this is where the next Op Idol is going to come from.
Alan Yentob's virtual: All these virtual worlds, eh? Second Life, GTA, World of Warcraft. The list goes on. What we need is Yentob to come on screen and tell us all about virtual worlds and what they mean in terms of the greater socio-economic and cultural expansion of 21st century humanity. What do you mean they've already done it?
