Execs in Japan dish on upcoming console wars

The Computer Entertainment Suppliers' Association (CESA), the group that owns and produces the Tokyo Game Show, held a press conference today regarding online gaming and the industry's future. Famitsu.com covered the meeting, which was presided over by top officials from a number of companies, including Square Enix president Youichi Wada and Namco Bandai VP Shin Unozawa.

Wada began the discussion by frankly acknowledging, "in individual interviews, we tend to give opinions in line with our companies' interests, making it difficult to give objective observations." He hoped that the roundtable interview would allow the participants to be more open and provide a fresh perspective to the talks.

Wada then shared his insights into online-gaming payment structures. He proposed a scenario for "volume-controlled charges," in which online games would be divided into chapters. The first chapter could be offered free for evaluation, with subsequent chapters requiring payments to continue playing. He also thinks that with the growth in "always-on" Internet connections, the "huge cost of debugging" to developers will decrease, as regular software updates will become possible. Wada also pointed out that the software updates would make it "easy to insert advertisements into games."

Unozawa then weighed in with his take on the impending battle between Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii. His opinion is that this purported clash of titans will actually be anticlimatic. "There will be no power struggle," he said.

Although praising the Wii's family-friendliness and synergy with the Nintendo DS, he added, "I'm unsure about its appeal to the main users, namely middle- and high-school students."

On the other hand, he was bullish on the PSP and PS3, which in his view fill "the demand for game hardware that can be enjoyed by individuals." Despite concerns that the PS3's price would make it prohibitively expensive, Unozawa has no fears. He asserted "the PlayStation 3 will sell, without question."

Like Wada, he too sees potential in shifting the billing structure of online games. For example, the game itself could be offered free, and users would be charged for items purchased.