Following Sony's announcement of the PS3's US price cut Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), has said that the company could have fobbed us off with PS2.5 instead of diving in with the PS3.
In spite of not making PS2.5, Sony has not forgotten about its older console. The company has just taken the time to shave 400g off the weight of the PS2.
The PS3 strategy Sony has ended up pursuing has not, however, come without its downsides. According to Tretton, "The price you pay for that is (that) it is difficult to manufacture and certainly had a lot to do with our delay in getting to market, and certainly had a lot to do with the costs associated with building it and our production capacity. But we have gotten that behind us now."
Sony's been keen to tell us how its PS3 woes are over of late. Last month Sony Corporation's CEO told assembled shareholders that "all" the PS3's production issues have been solved.
Tretton also had a few comments to share on the games market as a whole, saying, "It's probably more fragmented than it has ever been. But I think it's good for consumers, because they have more choices than they have ever had."
It's not all sweetness and light, however. "It makes it very challenging for the development community", he said, "That puts a lot of pressure on companies to work at their own internal development. That's where we have invested heavily."
It's just as well Sony's invested heavily in its own development, since it's not prepared to "offer bribes" to third-party publishers for exclusives, and (as a result?) only really has Metal Gear Solid 4 to shout about.
Source: USA Today
"The decision we could have made a couple years ago was to make a PlayStation 2.5, put it out at an attractive retail price point, move the bar marginally from a technology standpoint and buy ourselves a couple years of additional prosperity. What we felt that we had the luxury to do was to really build a machine (that) we firmly believe is future proof."
In spite of not making PS2.5, Sony has not forgotten about its older console. The company has just taken the time to shave 400g off the weight of the PS2.
The PS3 strategy Sony has ended up pursuing has not, however, come without its downsides. According to Tretton, "The price you pay for that is (that) it is difficult to manufacture and certainly had a lot to do with our delay in getting to market, and certainly had a lot to do with the costs associated with building it and our production capacity. But we have gotten that behind us now."
Sony's been keen to tell us how its PS3 woes are over of late. Last month Sony Corporation's CEO told assembled shareholders that "all" the PS3's production issues have been solved.
Tretton also had a few comments to share on the games market as a whole, saying, "It's probably more fragmented than it has ever been. But I think it's good for consumers, because they have more choices than they have ever had."
It's not all sweetness and light, however. "It makes it very challenging for the development community", he said, "That puts a lot of pressure on companies to work at their own internal development. That's where we have invested heavily."
It's just as well Sony's invested heavily in its own development, since it's not prepared to "offer bribes" to third-party publishers for exclusives, and (as a result?) only really has Metal Gear Solid 4 to shout about.
Source: USA Today
Companies:
Sony
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Comments
Captain Chaos! 9 Jul 2007 11:44
1/10
excuses excuses
puts a smile on my face watching messers Tretton and Harrison scrabling around trying to blame the doomed PS3 problems on everything but themselves.
puts a smile on my face watching messers Tretton and Harrison scrabling around trying to blame the doomed PS3 problems on everything but themselves.
hollywooda 9 Jul 2007 11:57
2/10
So it's our fault!?....ohhh right.
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Joji 9 Jul 2007 13:35
3/10
This is damage limitation Sony style. Its their fault and no one elses. Stop buck passing, Sony.
Pat the Cat 9 Jul 2007 14:32
4/10
"It makes it very challenging for the development community"
According to my source, designing any game for a Playstation is easy compared to actually producing it on Sony development gear. Compared to the MicroSoft equivalent.
Anyone like to disagree? I'm going off 3rd hand reports here.
According to my source, designing any game for a Playstation is easy compared to actually producing it on Sony development gear. Compared to the MicroSoft equivalent.
Anyone like to disagree? I'm going off 3rd hand reports here.
irritant 9 Jul 2007 14:39
5/10
Pat the Cat wrote:
According to my source, designing any game for a Playstation is easy compared to actually producing it on Sony development gear. Compared to the MicroSoft equivalent.
Anyone like to disagree? I'm going off 3rd hand reports here.
You've pretty much got the nail on the head, except another huge barrier is Sony's arrogance and s**tty attitude towards developers. We have to go through so many stages of approval to produce games for their hardware that it gets to the point where it's just not worth it.
They can turn your game down at design phase, Beta or final submission despite how much money you've spend on developing it simply because one of their QA monkeys doesn't like the sort of game you've produced. You make a ton of changes to pander to their whims and then a completely different QA monkey looks at it and wants a whole set of different pointless changes. None of which actually improve the game any, it's simply a case of their opinions on your design.
I hope the PS3 drags Sony into the depths of hell and I never have to work on any of their hardware again.
way 9 Jul 2007 18:43
6/10
"Could have", should have! and saved us all an lot of hassle. PSP has extra technology PS2 lacked. If they had introduced an more practical machine to keep up with PC performance, and to head xbox 360 off, around the time of the PStwo and PSP, while still developing the PS3, they could have made heaps of money instead, and made the rest of us happy.
What "could" they have done, something like 1-2ghz PSP like PS2, with HD, and using HD resolution upscaling and HD Mpeg4, Divx, wmv DVD formats, that those cheap DVD players have used for years, Linux computer version, and cheap Media centre like version. Even an 8 core slower MIPS. This could have also sold heaps of HD TV's and cameras, because it was an HD format, while people were waiting for the Bluray HD PS3.
What "could" they have done, something like 1-2ghz PSP like PS2, with HD, and using HD resolution upscaling and HD Mpeg4, Divx, wmv DVD formats, that those cheap DVD players have used for years, Linux computer version, and cheap Media centre like version. Even an 8 core slower MIPS. This could have also sold heaps of HD TV's and cameras, because it was an HD format, while people were waiting for the Bluray HD PS3.
realvictory 9 Jul 2007 21:56
7/10
They don't care, the PS2 was making the money while the rest wasn't.
It would be funny if the Wii sold badly, and Nintendo said "Yeah, well, we could have made the Gamecube 1.5... "
It would be funny if the Wii sold badly, and Nintendo said "Yeah, well, we could have made the Gamecube 1.5... "
actionmonkey 10 Jul 2007 09:14
8/10
" a couple years ago" wasn't that when the PS3 was supposed to be out?
Rutabaga 10 Jul 2007 09:37
9/10
realvictory wrote:
It would be funny if the Wii sold badly, and Nintendo said "Yeah, well, we could have made the Gamecube 1.5... "
Err! The Wii is a Gamecube 1.5 thats the whole point.
realvictory 10 Jul 2007 10:52
10/10
Rutabaga wrote:
realvictory wrote:
It would be funny if the Wii sold badly, and Nintendo said "Yeah, well, we could have made the Gamecube 1.5... "
Err! The Wii is a Gamecube 1.5 thats the whole point.
Yes, it is the whole point.