TOKYO—Sony Corp. announced Tuesday it is moving the headquarters of its PlayStation videogame unit from Tokyo to California, as the company needs to be able to respond quicker to industry trends.

Tokyo-based Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Sony's videogame unit, will merge with San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony Network Entertainment International LLC, which provides PlayStation's network services. The change is effective from April, and the new company will be called Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC.

"It makes sense for us to put headquarters functions in the U.S. because we have a lot of important business partners in the U.S. and a lot of changes in the industry we need to deal with promptly tend to appear there first," a Sony Computer Entertainment spokeswoman said.

According to Japanese industrial body Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association, the U.S. is the biggest videogame market in the world at above $10.4 billion, followed by Europe's $9.4 billion. Japan, at just $3.3 billion, is shrinking thanks to the popularity of mobile games.

Sony's latest PlayStation 4 flagship videogame console was released in the U.S. first, and its related subscription service PlayStation Now was launched there ahead of other regions. PlayStation Vue, a cloud-based TV service, is currently only available in selected cities in the U.S.

Andrew House, Chief Executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, will retain the same position at the new company, traveling between Japan and the U.S.

Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2016 03:35 ET (08:35 GMT)

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