The Long Haul

In the second part of our exclusive interview, SCE Worldwide Europe VP Jamie MacDonald discusses what Sony thinks of the PSP's performance so far, how he reacted to news of the European PS3 delay and why he believes the new console is worth the asking price.

Jamie MacDonald: I was gutted. Absolutely gutted. Like many people, I was looking forward to having a PlayStation 3 under the Christmas tree. But, you know, that's a privilege that the people in the United States and Japan are going to have. It's just unfortunate we couldn't do that in Europe. So yes, of course I'm disappointed.

What would you say to consumers who like Sony and want to buy your products, but perhaps feel that because they're in Europe they're always last in line?

European consumers have shown that historically they don't mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. In Europe, it doesn't seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel.

Do you think the delay will make much difference to your chances of winning the next-gen battle?

If we were sitting here in five years' time, I don't think we'd really think about or notice that PlayStation 3 was four or five months later in Europe. I think in the long run, PlayStation 3 will succeed because of the great product it is and the great software we make for it.

What do you think of the Wii-60 concept - the suggestion that for the same price as a PS3, consumers could pick up a Nintendo Wii and an Xbox 360? Is that something that concerns you?

To be honest, I haven't heard that... I suppose the challenge that we have is to make sure people aren't comparing like with like. A PlayStation 3 console comes with a Blu-ray disc player in the box, it comes with an HDMI connection in the box, and it comes with a hard disc drive - so the kind of entertainment experience you can get with a PlayStation 3 out of the box really is unique amongst the consoles.

It's not a case of either or; there is no other console that provides that high definition experience with a built-in Blu-ray disc player and the HDMI connection. It isn't comparing apples with apples.

So those elements are what makes it worth the extra money?

I think if you compare it with other consoles, adding on all the extras you need to get a similar experience, it would end up being more expensive than a PlayStation 3. So I think PlayStation 3 is excellent value for money, given what you're getting.

Moving on to the issue of software, do you think the gaming audience is changing? Are we likely to see more titles like EyeToy and Singstar from Sony?

Those are two products which my studio has been responsible for, and we expressly developed those products because we wanted to broaden the appeal of PlayStation. I think in general, that is our approach at PlayStation - we want to create products and have a platform which appeal to everybody.

Clearly, if you do your consumer research, in the first six months of the console the profile of the early adopter is different to that of the person who buys the console four years into its life cycle. From our point of view, we want to attract consumers both across the whole population and over time - so it's not just we're going for our 14 to 21 year old males, and that's it.

If it's anything like the previous consoles, then yes, that will be the main, hardcore, early adopter audience. But I think we've shown with EyeToy and Singstar that we want to appeal to the whole family.

PlayStation remains a strong brand, but do you think that Sony has a bit of an image problem at the moment? Specifically, with regard to the hardcore gaming community - there have been complaints about the high price point, comments from executives which some perceive as arrogant, the delayed launch... How do you deal with that?

We'd be foolish to ignore a consumer perception of that. But from our point of view, really, when we started with PlayStation 1, we didn't have any brand equity at all other than it was Sony.

So we built up the PlayStation brand from scratch, and we did that by creating a great platform and a great product. My view is that our approach should be, if we create great platforms and great games, then the rest will follow.

How much life do you think there is left in the PS2?

Well, if it's anything like PlayStation 1, another five, six years. I would say we're probably around about the half way mark. So there's an awful lot of legs in PlayStation 2 yet, and it's still the best-selling console in Europe by a country mile - it dwarfs the competition. And in Japan, and in the US as well.

How do you think the PSP has performed so far?

The PSP has hit all our targets. We're really pleased with it as a platform. We had a great launch, and it's selling as well as we expected.

What about the UMD movie format? Has that turned out as well as you'd hoped?

At PlayStation, we always want to create open formats, and we were happy to offer the UMD as an alternative format for the PSP. It's not our core expertise, but there you go. To be honest I don't know the numbers in terms of films, but I think you'll find in general the market for movies on discs of any type is not particularly great at the moment.

What about the PSP's software range? With titles like Nintendogs, Brain Training and Animal Crossing selling in huge numbers, the Nintendo DS seems to be outdoing the PSP in terms of games...

Again, I think it's unfair to compare PSP and DS. They're aimed at different consumers, they have different price points, and as I say PSP is selling exactly to our plan.

DS is selling really well, I think it's a great product with some great software. From our point of view, it's growing the market for handheld devices, which is a good thing.

Finally, which PS3 software titles are you most looking forward to?

Well, all our launch titles from Europe - Motorstorm, Heavenly Sword, F1... They're all really exciting. We have two or three titles in the pipeline which haven't been announced yet, which we're very excited about, but unfortunately I can't talk about that now.

I think the launch line-up, for Europe, the US and Japan - things like Resistance: Fall of Man, Genji - they're all looking great and playing really well. To have that kind of line-up for a console launch is really unprecedented.