The Toughest Job in Video Games: Sony PR (page 2 of 2)

Access and education are the two things I talk about most over here. We want to be as accessible as possible."
--Dave Karakker, head of SCEI communications

What is Sony doing to address concerns of gamers who are interested in owning a PS3 but haven't yet made the jump?

The first thing is to continue to educate people on the benefits of the technology and how it does things no other system can do. The second is to explain the value of all that cutting-edge technology: Cell is hands down the most powerful processor in any home entertainment system. Blu-ray gives developers a huge amount of space to create games. We also have free online gameplay, a hard drive in every box, Wi-Fi, and so on. This is a system that is just barely being tapped by developers at this point. There is so much upside potential that will continue to be uncovered years down the road, just like PS2.

And lastly, we have to deliver the content, which we are doing. We will have 15 PS3 exclusives this fiscal from our first party studios. Games like Ratchet & Clank Future; Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Heavenly Sword are looking amazing and are really showing what is possible when you harness the power in a PS3.

Now that the launch dust has settled, it appears the PS3's reception is improving. What do you attribute that to?

The GDC reveal of Home and Little Big Planet certainly helped. Those titles show not only what you can do with the technology in PS3, but also demonstrate vision and infinite possibilities. Those are the things that get people excited. I think the further we move away from the launch -- and the media dwelling on the perceived negatives -- the better the reception will be for PS3. At that point, it is all about the games.

How has SCE's culture changed over the years? What have you as a company done to evolve that culture?

Well, I have only been here eight months, so that would be tough for me to say. I have noticed since when I was working at Sega, that Sony is a lot more open and inclusive, particularly to third parties. There is a real willingness on SCE's side to help third parties develop outstanding content.

What is your vision for overhauling Sony's perception in the media? Should the company be more accessible to journalists and bloggers?

Access and education are the two things I talk about most over here. We want to be as accessible as possible and provide as much information as we can so media can properly cover our products and give the gamers all the news they want and need. That focus will never change. At launch of PS3 we gave an amazing amount of access to media. Kaz, Jack, and Peter must have done hundreds of interviews. That kind of access hasn't stopped, and in fact, I think it has increased with the amount of contact we have on a daily basis from folks in the blogging community.

In a world quick to criticize incumbents, what's the best thing the PlayStation brand brings to the gaming table?

Innovation. You can see it in our hardware and our software. I think if we had just put out PlayStation 2.5, people who have had every right in the world to criticize us. The fact is, we went above and beyond and delivered the most technologically advanced system ever created, which is now being supported by the most amazing games you have ever seen. PS3 will drive the market for the next 10 years, just as PS2 is doing and PSone did before that. That vision and technological leadership is what the PlayStation Brand is all about.

What do you consider your greatest triumph to date, both as head of PR for Sony and as company?

I think you would be hard pressed to find a product launch in the past several years that matched the buzz generated by PS3. The amount of coverage that came out of the launch was staggering. It even surpassed when [Sega, who Dave formerly worked for] launched the Dreamcast, if you can believe it! To a PR person, that is pretty much nirvana. Sony's greatest triumph I would view as bringing gaming to the masses and helping to make the world wake up and realize that gaming is a legitimate form of entertainment, along with movies, music and television. For too long, people who didn't play games thought they were just for 11 year old boys, when that is simply not the case. I think we helped them see the light.


GP: Thanks for your insight, Dave!

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