IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

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

Posted July 7, 2009 by James Brightman

IG: Sony has been pretty good at expanding its slate of original PSN games from independent developers. What guidelines do you follow as you look to grow the library of original PSN titles?

EL: We wanted to be an independent experience but a high quality experience when we look at this stuff. I think a lot of what you're talking to is that the games are innovative and really unique, but they're also made for PS3, so they're usually HD and they're different. That's what I love about PSN, as opposed to our consoles in the past where you had to put something on a disc to get it out there, and there were mass distribution costs and retail issues, but now we can provide a channel for these unique games. We have things like Flow and Flower and PixelJunk and Everyday Shooter, and Fat Princess coming... just all this neat content that's great on the console.  We're always looking at new people, and we have several different groups within the company on both the Worldwide Studios side and our third-party relations side doing that. I think we've made strides there. As Kaz announced, we lowered the price of the PSP development tool – that's a step in the right direction because now a lot of people who might not have been able to make the big investment can get in and start making content for us. So the guidelines right now are not that stringent; we have some technical guidelines to protect the experience, but it's really about quality and bringing something innovative. If it's priced right and the consumer likes it, we're happy to distribute it. That's one of the greatest benefits of the network. As opposed to what others are offering, we're offering truly new and unique games that you can't find anywhere else. And about 45% are exclusive to PSN, so it's one of our biggest strengths. 

IG: With PSP Go being all digital and the fact that you can access the store on the PSP itself, do you feel it's one step closer to competing with the iPhone?

EL: What's a little bit different with us is that PSP is a game-centric device; it was built for gaming. A lot of this other stuff you see on other devices – lots of smaller games, not that deep – might not provide the best experience. The PSP Go has a lot more horsepower and there's a lot more you can get out of this. I think the Go will open [the door] for more unique stuff that you probably wouldn't find on another platform because they can't run it or they just don't have the controls.

IG:  Have you given any thought to encouraging more free software for PSN/PSP? The App Store has lots of free content, including free games. Is there consideration being given to expanding a free catalog?

EL: Right now our free catalog consists of demos, wallpapers, themes and videos about games. I don't think we want to degrade the experience you get from a PSP. Because [iPhone] is not a gaming-centric device, I think a user picks it up and [plays a simple free game] and says, “This is kind of dumb, but I don't care because I know this device wasn't intended for games.” So I want to make sure we uphold the quality of games on PSN; that doesn't mean they can't be shorter or quirky but we don't want to see a bunch of little things that don't quite make sense or provide a good experience because I think that takes away from what the device is intended for.

IG: How much marketing are we going to see for PSN? It still seems to me like awareness around the network with consumers is not quite where it needs to be. 

EL: There will be a lot of marketing around PSN later this year, aside from the PSP Go launching, just focusing on the network. We will have the network kind of tagged on to all of our big marketing campaigns, and we'll probably have a separate network campaign as well just to speak to all the different features because there's lots to talk about now. You're right, we need to educate the consumer and let them know that there's all this stuff you can do at no cost. All you need is the device and you're set to go. I'd like to see us do a much better job there because there's a lot to say.

IG: With PSP Go launching for $249, will Sony look to drop the price on the old PSP to say $129 to match it with DS Lite?

EL: There are no plans in place to adjust pricing. There are bundles coming out over the next few months and the hardware plan is kind of locked and loaded. I don't think anything will be changing. [The old PSP] will be in the market and we're fully supporting the UMD PSP along with this; we're happy with where it is today. 

IG: Some people may be worried about filling up the internal memory of the PSP Go, so what would you say the average size of a game file is going to be? How many games could a user fit onto the device?

EL: If you're strictly talking games, and not movies or other stuff, with the average game being perhaps 800 MB you could probably get about 20 games onto the PSP Go. 

IG: And of course there's still memory stick storage...

EL: Right, and you can hook up via USB so you can offload this stuff if you need to. You can use the Media Go application to manage all of that. 

IG: Thanks for your time, Eric.

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.