David Reeves.
President of SCEE, David Reeves, has been supplied with some major spin in SCE's making a loss of $2 billion (£1.3b) two years ago. Speaking to MCV, Reeves states that, "...we thought at the time that it (the loss) was a lot of money, but in perspective with things like Citibank it's not that much. And last year we lost $1 billion."
Sure, in the light of the US government's nationalisation (sorry, 'bailing out') of Citigroup to the tune of $350b, it's not much. It's also an interesting take on making a loss - why not try it on your bank manager or building society? So, who does Sony expect to make money in 2009?
Well, frankly says Reeves, SCEE already nearly there. It works like this, "Our point of view from the 100 markets we work in, we have PS2 which we're making a profit on, PSP where we also make a profit, and PS3 where - if we just look at in Euro terms, we are in profit on software though we still make a loss on hardware."
Reeves also put some flesh on the bones of the statement that the PlayStation brand was not going to do battle with Nintendo in terms of price, nor Microsoft in terms of price-cutting.
Reeves informs the statement that Sony's strategy is "value added" by saying, "That doesn't mean that we're going to add pieces of software - we might add original ideas to the machine. What we want is to make the machine value for money".
All rather ambiguous stuff flowing around the word 'ideas'. That we could simply take to mean the addition of bigger hard disks (storage media is one thing that is not getting any more expensive). We could see the return of the missing USB ports from the original PS3. But that still sounds simply like hardware rather than 'original ideas'.
Finally, the standard jibe you have to expect. On the one hand, Reeves states, "I would never bad mouth the competition", on the other, "I'm not saying that we're completely abandoning exclusives, but we don't have the $50m to spend on securing exclusive content - and we'd much rather put that money not into securing an exclusive but developing another innovative game like LittleBigPlanet".
What could he be referring to? Maybe this? Well, at least he is being honest regarding what SCE (or SCEE) can and can't afford.
Sure, in the light of the US government's nationalisation (sorry, 'bailing out') of Citigroup to the tune of $350b, it's not much. It's also an interesting take on making a loss - why not try it on your bank manager or building society? So, who does Sony expect to make money in 2009?
Well, frankly says Reeves, SCEE already nearly there. It works like this, "Our point of view from the 100 markets we work in, we have PS2 which we're making a profit on, PSP where we also make a profit, and PS3 where - if we just look at in Euro terms, we are in profit on software though we still make a loss on hardware."
Reeves also put some flesh on the bones of the statement that the PlayStation brand was not going to do battle with Nintendo in terms of price, nor Microsoft in terms of price-cutting.
Reeves informs the statement that Sony's strategy is "value added" by saying, "That doesn't mean that we're going to add pieces of software - we might add original ideas to the machine. What we want is to make the machine value for money".
All rather ambiguous stuff flowing around the word 'ideas'. That we could simply take to mean the addition of bigger hard disks (storage media is one thing that is not getting any more expensive). We could see the return of the missing USB ports from the original PS3. But that still sounds simply like hardware rather than 'original ideas'.
Finally, the standard jibe you have to expect. On the one hand, Reeves states, "I would never bad mouth the competition", on the other, "I'm not saying that we're completely abandoning exclusives, but we don't have the $50m to spend on securing exclusive content - and we'd much rather put that money not into securing an exclusive but developing another innovative game like LittleBigPlanet".
What could he be referring to? Maybe this? Well, at least he is being honest regarding what SCE (or SCEE) can and can't afford.
Read More Like This
Comments
Christhegamer 12 Dec 2008 14:15
1/5
They need to do something, they are getting thumped by nintendo and MS.
SuperSaiyan4 12 Dec 2008 17:00
2/5
Not really to be fair the PS3 does have a lot of built in hardware which is very well made the problem is the exclusive games.
If gamers can get all the games they wanted on the PS3 on the 360 at half the price for the console that can have an impact on their choice.
Price is an issue for many when you have the 360 and Wii very cheap but put it this way if your buying a 360 Elite for £230 with like 4 games and an extra pad vs a PS3 for £290 with say 3 games if gamers really prefered the PS3 they would opt for that.
So in all cases I think the impact is the exclusive games.
If gamers can get all the games they wanted on the PS3 on the 360 at half the price for the console that can have an impact on their choice.
Price is an issue for many when you have the 360 and Wii very cheap but put it this way if your buying a 360 Elite for £230 with like 4 games and an extra pad vs a PS3 for £290 with say 3 games if gamers really prefered the PS3 they would opt for that.
So in all cases I think the impact is the exclusive games.
more comments below our sponsor's message
glippy 13 Dec 2008 00:17
3/5
Went the red ring 360 route 3 times, but after 6 months down time as the replacements came through I eventually junked it (sold the lot to a non friend) and moved PS3. The 360 aint cheap its junk and the promises wore thin. No good spending $800 on 360 games when you cant play them on the cheap n nasty machine, shame, it was great when it worked but PS3 is better and ROBUST.
SuperSaiyan4 15 Dec 2008 09:03
4/5
glippy wrote:
Went the red ring 360 route 3 times, but after 6 months down time as the replacements came through I eventually junked it (sold the lot to a non friend) and moved PS3. The 360 aint cheap its junk and the promises wore thin. No good spending $800 on 360 games when you cant play them on the cheap n nasty machine, shame, it was great when it worked but PS3 is better and ROBUST.
Actually the PS3 is not better and the 360 is reliable since the Falcon revised boards came out.
The PS3 does not offer the gaming splendor the 360 offers couple with the mass content online, mass number of online gamers and software updates like the NXE which do not cause problems or get delayed...
Blu-ray has proved only 1 thing...The ability of developers to put useless content with games on the disc like movies, huge cutscenes, further useless content like in-game television shows...Oh and having to put the game on the disc twice and even with a partial install games loading times are still slow.
And that PS3 pad has the worst trigger buttons in the history of mankind!!
Lastly my 60 PS3 broke a few months after release when I got it and I hardly ever used it! Come to turn it on and the optical output was dead! took it back for a refund.
360 sales prove how much better the 360 is vs the PS3.
SalesrUs 15 Dec 2008 09:31
5/5
SuperSaiyan4 wrote:
360 sales prove how much better the 360 is vs the PS3.
Yeh sales always prove that one thing is better than anothr thing. Just look at the Toyota Corolla versus the Zonda. Or how about Windows Vista any other competing operating system. Or how about Mcdonalds over food? U R so right, sales are always the proof of thigns that are better than other things, no question.
The Wii is about a gazillion times better than the 360 and the PlayStation 3. Actually, the PS2 is better than all of them - just look at the sales!