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Playstation boss is feeling good about the PS4
How early in the planning process did Sony (SNE) settle on the $399 retail price?
You look at the feature set first. Then you look at manufacturing costs, and you're trying to manage P&L. You're trying to get to the most consumer-friendly price you can. The goal is to always get as low as you can without breaking the bank. At $399 we had a proposition consumers would respond favorably to. We honestly didn't know whether that was going to be more aggressive or less aggressive than competitors.
You've been with Sony since 1995. How would you size up your position with this launch compared to the Playstation 3 launch?
We're in a much better position. There are a couple of key factors: We came to market later than what proved to be a formidable competitor in the Xbox 360 -- that won't happen this time around. We came to market at $599 -- that's obviously not going to happen this time around. In spite of all that, we went on to sell 70 million units. There were a lot of lessons learned in things we did not want to repeat. I really relish the opportunity to come to market in a timely way at $399.
The current hardware generation was remarkable for lasting so long. Do you think the PS4 will last as long?
I believe it will. The irony is that the PS1 and PS2 didn't go away for lack of consumer interest. They went away because of the ability to manufacture them profitably. As the technology got longer in the tooth, the cost of goods and the chipsets that were state of the art when you originally launched the Playstation become difficult to manufacture cost-effectively. So in both cases, there was still plenty of demand out there. If we could have manufactured it profitably, there's no reason why it couldn't still be out there on retail shelves.
Your boss, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai, oversaw the Playstation unit during the PS2's heyday. Seems like that would create a lot of pressure.
It's a dream come true because when I first started at Playstation, you questioned the level of understanding and support for gaming in the corporation. To now have somebody who understands gaming and understands its importance to the corporation in the senior-most position is everything you could hope for. He understands the challenges; he understands the opportunities. He deserves a lot of credit for the focus of our division.
You look at the feature set first. Then you look at manufacturing costs, and you're trying to manage P&L. You're trying to get to the most consumer-friendly price you can. The goal is to always get as low as you can without breaking the bank. At $399 we had a proposition consumers would respond favorably to. We honestly didn't know whether that was going to be more aggressive or less aggressive than competitors.
You've been with Sony since 1995. How would you size up your position with this launch compared to the Playstation 3 launch?
We're in a much better position. There are a couple of key factors: We came to market later than what proved to be a formidable competitor in the Xbox 360 -- that won't happen this time around. We came to market at $599 -- that's obviously not going to happen this time around. In spite of all that, we went on to sell 70 million units. There were a lot of lessons learned in things we did not want to repeat. I really relish the opportunity to come to market in a timely way at $399.
The current hardware generation was remarkable for lasting so long. Do you think the PS4 will last as long?
I believe it will. The irony is that the PS1 and PS2 didn't go away for lack of consumer interest. They went away because of the ability to manufacture them profitably. As the technology got longer in the tooth, the cost of goods and the chipsets that were state of the art when you originally launched the Playstation become difficult to manufacture cost-effectively. So in both cases, there was still plenty of demand out there. If we could have manufactured it profitably, there's no reason why it couldn't still be out there on retail shelves.
Your boss, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai, oversaw the Playstation unit during the PS2's heyday. Seems like that would create a lot of pressure.
It's a dream come true because when I first started at Playstation, you questioned the level of understanding and support for gaming in the corporation. To now have somebody who understands gaming and understands its importance to the corporation in the senior-most position is everything you could hope for. He understands the challenges; he understands the opportunities. He deserves a lot of credit for the focus of our division.
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