Sony Strikes Back (Page 5 of 5)

Jack Talks Back

GP: Do you have any questions for us?

TRETTON: The thing that frustrates me as someone in the industry, [is that] there seems to be a whole different level of [gaming fans] who are haters. I don't know if they're even necessarily gamers, or the people who have driven this industry to a $12 billion dollar industry. If there wasn't gaming, there wouldn't be GamePro, and if there wasn't a PlayStation this wouldn't be a 12 billion dollar industry.

So I guess my question back to you is this: in recent years there seems to be a closet journalist around every corner. How does that affect your ability to report to the consumer, and how does it affect the consumer's ability to sort through credible journalism and people who are mad at the world and want to knock everything? Is that a good trend for the industry?

GP: Well, we struggle with that all the time. Particularly regarding blogs, which is one of the key groups we're all talking about here. It's interesting from a free speech perspective that people can go out there any say whatever they want, but are they being responsible? And are they being fair? What's frustrating to me is that we're essentially in competition with these folks...if readers come to expect a blog-like approach I have to craft my editorial and process it in such a way that people want to read it. It's a juggling act, and it frustrates me, to be honest. And yeah, I think there are some incredibly irresponsible bloggers out there.

That's why I wanted to ask you whether you thought the PS3 has gotten a fair shake in the media, because frankly I don't think it has. It frustrates me as a gamer, though I've had my gripes with the PS3...

TRETTON: ...yeah, I'm not saying it's perfect, but let's try to be a little objective here...

GP: It must be hard for you guys. Let's say you've got Gaming Blog X, and they slam on PS3 and are very snarky but they get a lot of hits. Some of these guys are pretty good writers, too. But what kind of position does that put Sony in? Because you either ignore them, and they become outlaws and get even bigger, or you try to bring them into the fold and give them access, and you're almost rewarding them for being sensationalists. Honestly, I don't know what you'd do.

That's the conundrum of our business. We have to have as many eyeballs on our web sites and magazines as possible. But what I think we have going for us is our longevity and our credibility. Hopefully, we have some credibility out in the world as a journalistic organization. But it's an ongoing challenge, because the internet has opened up the world to so much information...

....for better or worse.

TRETTON: Hopefully the consumer can see through the fog and we don't turn them off to games. It may be a bad analogy, but this industry did collapse once before. It was when the consumer couldn't sift through a good game and a bad game and everyone was publishing and [the whole infrastructure] just imploded. I'm not saying that's a risk going forward, though.

I don't believe this is PR spin. We do believe in a ten-year product lifecycle. I think consumers will get frustrated [if you pull the rug out from under them with rapid new product successors].

I guess my question to you guys is, are we on the right track? Or is it all about getting them with the sizzle? There's a sucker born every minute? Is it all about the here and now, and tomorrow doesn't count?

GP: There are so many types of people out there, and they all have their own different interests. We'd all like to play games. I guess if I worked for Sony or Nintendo that what I'd try to figure out: find these niches and give them entertainment that speaks to them. I think that means, by definition, multiple platforms catering to the widest possible audience. That gets back to our challenge: how to cover all these platforms? They're all good.

How do we cover PS2? It's huge? But the sizzle is next-gen, that's what's expected to be covered.

What happens when Madden football is available for every platform, and they all came in today?

TRETTON: We tell our third-party developers that...there had be some very distinct reasons to sell a PS2, PSP, and PS3 game.

GP: When does PS3 "kick in" in terms of what's possible with that platform? When does it start to exert its muscle? As it is now, many of the games are similar to their Xbox 360 versions.

TRETTON: That's why we made such an investment in our worldwide studios. We have to carry the flag and show consumers and developers what can be done on the PS3. I think Resistance: Fall of Man delivers on that technology, and I think MotorStorm will too.

When you're talking about the launch window, it's all about just getting product on the shelf and being one of the launch titles. As a launch-window developer, if there's an existing technology, [you'll find yourself using that for efficiency]. We suffered from that even internally on PS2, where the first PS2 games we shipped were based on PS1 engines. The games that came to the forefront were from developers who invested in the PS2 technology.

Some publishers will force the others to be honest. EA wants to remain the leading software publisher. They're gonna say, "we want to own the PS3, we're going to invest in the PS3 technology," and that will force their competitors to do the same. If we ever breed this mediocrity, this industry dies. I think the unfortunate message for consumers is, everything comes with a price. The good news is I can get you $29 and $39 games forever, but the bad news is they'll never look any better. If you want publishers to invest $30 million in development, you may have to pay $50 or $60. You can do cute one-offs and 1.5 technologies, but you won't have the staying power -- you're just buying time.

That's what we hope to prove with the PS3. When are we going to see it? You're seeing parts of it now...but again, these are 17 launch titles among, hopefully, thousands.

If we were maxxing out the technology now, we'd have nothing new to show you a year or two years down the road. The reality is, we're just scratching the surface [with the PS3]. [Some people say], "oh, you had a bad launch library." In fact, I think we had an impressive launch library, but it will pale in comparison to what you'll see from us one or two years down the road.

GP: What upcoming games really showcase the PS3? What should we keep an eye out for?

TRETTON: It comes down to personal taste. I'm somewhat of a sports gamer, and I'm excited about what the MLB title will look like on PS3. And MotorStorm is something that everyone's been talking about for almost two years. And once you get the controller in your hand, it's a lot of fun. Gran Tursismo HD demo gives you a glimpse of where that franchise is headed.

Japanese developers will be far more relevant this time than they've been recently. And you can't discount Electronic Arts -- they're right down the street, and we see their code quite often -- and they move in leaps and bounds. Some really good stuff coming from Capcom, Konami, Square Enix, Koei, as well as Electronic Arts, Activision, and Ubisoft.

GP: Third-party games are switching alliances like crazy. Does this make first-party more important?

TRETTON: I think that if you put your fate in somebody else's hands, you're dependent on them buying into your message. We like a balance. Maybe it's not fair, but we look at our competition and Nintendo is almost solely dependent on first-party, and Microsoft is almost solely dependent on third-party. We like a mix of 75 to 25, where we take risks and lead with some flagship games, but third-party is still very important.

GP: What's up with Nintendo and the Wii? Do you see them as a competitor?

TRETTON: We've gone down a very different road from those guys since we've entered the gaming business, and I haven't seen our paths cross much over the last decade. If we're on divergent paths, it's probably more divergent now than it ever has been. The Wii is very different from the PS3 and the DS is very different from the PSP. I think we reach very different consumers. There may be a time when they start to cross over, but it won't be any time soon. We've carved out very different areas. I don't think any company wants to give up their high ground, but there's no debating that Sony is aimed more at more traditional console gamers and Nintendo is aimed at more casual, younger consumers.

GP: But do you consider Nintendo competitors?

TRETTON: Well, it's a great question. Competition is relative. Ideally and selfishly, you want 100% market share and you want to eliminate your competition. We came very close to doing that in Japan a few years ago. But the reality is, a rising tide lifts all boats. Anything that gets people interested in interactive entertainment ultimately bodes well for Sony as market leaders.

The reality is we compete with movie theatres, consumer electronics, books...you're competing with any other form of entertainment. We should look at them as relevant competition as much as you would another gaming company.

I am waiting for the day this industry matures and stops cannibalizing itself. People thrive on failure here: failed games, failed hardware platforms, failed companies. We almost root for failure. And I think that stems to the consumer as well [with too much polarity and politics between platforms]. Ultimately, this industry needs to be successful long-term and in very large degrees through technology evolution, or people will say that there's too much upheaval to be taken seriously and they'll move away from it. That's the problem we've faced in retail for years, is getting them to look at video games the same way they'd look at other areas in their stores. When retailers don't take games seriously, the consumers suffer. When publishers don't think long-term, the consumer suffers. I'd like to see the industry stop cannibalizing itself and support the industry as a form of entertainment that has staying power. But I don't see that happening any time soon, unfortunately.

You can't do a one-size-fits-all for consumers. You can spot the classic Nintendo fanboy from a mile away. They've been loyal, but they are a bit outside of the mainstream.

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