IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Interview: Sony Not Playing 'Catch Up' with Xbox Live Anymore

Posted July 7, 2009 by James Brightman

IndustryGamers: So what in your view is the big story for PlayStation Network right now?

Eric Lempel:  I think the biggest story is actually PSP Go because this really speaks to PlayStation Network; the Go and the delivery mechanism to the device is completely powered by PSN... So we're saying to that consumer, 'This unit is just for you, it speaks to your lifestyle and what you've been asking for.' It also helps us push a lot more content through the network for PSP. PSN of course still exists on the other PSP units, but I think this reminds people that there's a lot you can do with those units as well. So that's the big news, that we've got a network-powered device.

IG: I know Sony has said the PSP Go is not intended to replace the traditional PSP model, but it does sort of seem that with this digital push that is going to eventually happen. Don't you think this will phase out UMD permanently? 

Lempel is quite excited with the new PSP Go

IG: So every game is going to be released both in digital form and on UMD going forward?

EL: Yes, that is the plan. So it'll be day and date with retail, and in some cases depending on where people are today in development, they might not have the rights for digital distribution, but the goal is to get 100% day and date with UMDs and I think we'll do pretty well in that area. We're also converting a lot of the back catalogue; we already have a lot of “UMD Legacy” titles on the PlayStation Store and we're looking to rapidly increase that now with PSP Go. We've been working on that behind the scenes for a while so that when Go launches you'll see there's a lot of titles already available [on PSN] that you've known about for years.

IG: And the pricing on the digital games will be identical to the UMD counterparts?

EL: Well, we don't actually control pricing, so we can sell to retail at a wholesale price and then they set the resale price. On the PlayStation Store we do set the pricing for first-party titles, but on third-party they give us a wholesale price. On games where we do control pricing, what we'll steer towards is having it cost the same; it won't cost more [at retail or digitally] for the launch of a new title. 

IG: What kind of feedback have you gotten from retailers? As you go more and more towards digital they are kind of left out...

EL: [Feedback] has actually been quite positive. Some of the retailers were brought in early on this, and we said, 'Hey, here's the direction we're going with this.' As you know, there are lots of other devices on the market that just don't have a software component at retail. So surprisingly, they're excited. So I definitely understand where the question's coming from and I also thought it would be interesting to see what happens when you say [to them], 'Sell this but there's not going to be a software component.' But there's still an accessory component and we've got a pretty strong accessory line; there will be new accessories planned for Go at some point. So retailers were embracing it and it seems like they're happy with the product. They're happy with the [model] 3000 PSP as well. Currently we're also doing a pretty good PlayStation card business with our $20 and $50 cards. Surprisingly, it's a good segment of our audience that uses cards only... so they can still sell these things. I think in other cases with other digital products, they really don't have anything [else to sell].

IG: I know one of the focuses also has been to bring PSOne classics onto PSN and PSP. Is there a certain goal for the percentage of that PSOne library that you plan to get onto the network?

EL: From my perspective, it's as much as possible. We're going to have a lot more by the end of the year. We'll easily double the amount we have currently, which I believe is 38. We'll at least double that by the end of the year, but the goal for me would be to get as many on there as possible because consumers love it, it's easy for third parties and our first-party studios because the content is done, and it's a place where you can get a lot of games that perhaps you never had or some that are out of print and you can't find anymore. In a lot of cases there are legal issues or contractual issues, because if you think back to the PSOne business no one was thinking “How can I someday distribute this content digitally for another device?” So when you look at a lot of these contracts, you're licensing it for that media on that specific device and you're done. But we've done a pretty good job in our region so far of getting some good stuff over and we'll aggressively seek that on both the first and third-party side.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.