Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 01 May 2007 15:38
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
This week saw the passing into retirement of Ken Kutaragi, father of the PlayStation. After standing down as head of Sony Computer Entertainment, apparently falling on his sword in the wake of the less than stellar PS3 reception, Kutaragi has taken the next career step in a not so drawn out scape-goating process. But should it have been the Sony PR team on the chopping block? And is the PS3 no longer batting in the right league?
The PS3 is a wondrous piece of technology that needs a name change. Perhaps the EStation? It is, after all primarily focused on being your living room entertainment hub. It has transcended the gaming console platform, in many ways cannot be compared to the traditional peers from Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony can make this transition work in their favour
In a long list of PS3 gaffs, Kutaragi himself let loose a couple of frowned upon comments; “The PS3 is not a games machine" and “it’s probably too cheap”.
These comments prior to the launch may have come across as aloof or arrogant, and have been proffered as the catalyst of the Sony public relations downfall. But the reality is that Kurtargi was being simply prophesising where the EStation should sit in the public psyche.
With the PlayStation name, Sony rightly expected to continue the successful ride of the PSone and PS2, this expectation was evident right from the get go. The dismissal of the Nintendo Wii as a competitor and a stream of seemingly arrogant comments from various Sony execs ensued.
From Sony exec David Reeve; “The first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even [if] it didn’t have games” followed by Jack Tretton of Sony US; “If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that’s been on shelves for more than five minutes, I’ll give you 1,200 bucks for it” – He must be a poor man today given that sales of the PS3 although consistent and strong, pale in comparison to it’s peers.
Then came the PAL launch of the PS3, seeing many of the expected crowds staying home in bed even in the
warm climes of Australia. To this date rough figures indicate the Wii is selling 2 to 1 over the PS3.
It is not like Sony don’t know how to sell the PlayStation brand, the PS2 is currently the top selling games console around, it’s just that I have to wonder if the PS3 errr EStation is officially a gaming console now.
