The EGM Jack Tretton interview

Going to start typing this out. It's very long, so it's probably going to take awhile and several updates. Mods, just lock the thread if it falls under the copyright violation post. Any typos are mine.

Jack Tretton isn't worried about the PS3's negative press. Sony Computer Entertainment America's new president and CEO has a clear message for everyone: Just wait and see. Armed with our own tough questions (and a few zingers from our intrepid readers), we ask him to defend the PS3's troubled debut, map out its path to future success, and comment on the overall state of the gaming industry.

Jack Tretton joined Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) at its inception in 1995 as director of sales and was around for the launch of every PlayStation platform. He was promoted to president and CEO of SCEA in November of 2006. He is responsible for day-to-day management of operations, licensing, business development, marketing, sales, and cheering for the New England Patriots.

EGM: In all these years of covering this industry, we've only really seen one other system launch that had this much negativity surrounding it: the Sega Saturn. What happened?

Jack Tretton: The problem we have... It's society in general. We've been the undisputed winner for over a decade now, and people keep waiting for us to slip up, and we haven't, so people try to create stories that aren't there. The reality is, by ever measurement-and I would challenge you to come up with some negative ones-the PlayStation 3 was the most successful launch we've ever had.

EGM: How are you measuring this success?

JT: We got a lot of press at (videogame trade show) E3 two years before PS3 launched. People said, "Wow, great presentation...really loved the press conference." That's the press' opinion. The press declares that our press event was positive.
   As we moved towards launch, as consumers started to get their hands on the device and read about what could do, they got very, very excited about it, and that culminated on November 17. When you could bet people across North America at 20,000 retail locations camping out trying to get their hands on a PS3, then you obviously have something that's got a tremendous amount of consumer interest, and that happened.

EGM: Well, let's talk about that for a second, because, from our unscientific studies, it seemed that about 50 percent of those people in line were there to make a quick buck on eBay. And now we're seeing a lot more units on store shelves.

JT: Really?

EGM: Yeah.

JT: 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. I can get any retail buyer on teh phone with you and get them to verify that there's not a single retail location in America where there's a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale. They've all been sold in a matter of minutes. (Editor's note: This interview took place in early January 2007.)

EGM: But we called 18 random retailers, including Best Buy and EB Games, and half of them had PS3s in stock...some had as many as 20 in the store. So you can buy them now if you wanted.

JT: We've shipped more than 1 million PS3 units to North American customer sin the first 43 days since launch. I am not sitting in the store to know when they got put on shelves or if a salesperson is giving you accurate information, but if only nine of the 18 stores you contacted had supplies, that seems to be a clear indications that sales continue to be outstanding.
   And if people are (camping) out to buy our machines to sell them on eBay, and successfully sold them at an extremely large profit, I don't think you'd find a company in the world that'd say, "Yeah that is pretty depressing. Not only did people (camp) out for them, they resold them at a $2,500 profit overnight-yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with our launch." It's hard for me to see the glass half-empty in that.

EGM: But why is the general vibe surrounding your launch so negative this time around? Regular gamers seem disappointed. Time Magazine even called it one of the big busts of 2006.

JT: Time magazine...I did an interview with Time magazine-the guy did his first interview ever on the games industry, touched his first machine two days before that, so I would argue that Time magazine my not be as plugged-in to the consumer or the gamer as your magazine is. All I can talk to is the people that we've attempted to sell PlayStation 3s to, and we've attempted to sell PlayStations 3s to a million people, and they've all bought 'em as quickly as we can get them out to them.
   But because we're in that leadership position, there are a lot of expectations thrust upon us, and some of them are a little unrealistic. If we failed and we were a distant third in the platform race, people would have a kind of a warm spot in their hearts for the good old days of PlayStation, and they'd actually root for us to get back on top. But I don't know if we want to pay the price to get that kind of (love).
   I think in time we'll be able to migrate the fast majority of the audience we've established with PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3. Until I see an indication from the consumers that it's not happened, I'll look at what gets written on the press for just what it is: an attempt to try to create headlines and sell newspapers.

EGM: A lot of gamers feel the launch lineup, including Resistance: Fall of Man, is a bit lacking...either uninspiring or too similar to what's currently offered elsewhere.

JT: We're very proud of our launch lineup and feel it stacks up well against all other platform launches, including our own for PS2 and PS1. I would encourage you to take a look back at the debuts of of all the past consoles to compare launch lineups. Resistance: Fall of Man was our best reviewed title and the number-one-selling game on the platform, so I am not sure why you would say it was lacking.
   We have published thousands of great games for all our PlayStation platforms over the years, selling billions of units. That won't suddenly change for the PS3. You can expect a steady flow of exceptional titles for the PS3 for years to come.

EGM: You told everyone, "We offer everything that Xbox Live does...the big differentiating factor is we're not charging you." OK, where to begin... There are several features that you don't offer right now that Xbox 360 does offer, such as cross-game messaging, background downloading, leaderboards, chat across all games...

JT: (The PlayStation Network) is in its first 60 days, and it's not ultimately where we'd like to get it. But it is free, and I think it's compelling, and it'll get better. We're very mindful of what consumers want. Now, if it's important enough for you to pay to get those features, then that's, I guess,a compelling argument for why you've signed up for Xbox Live service. But I still think we have a very robust online experience for PlayStation 3, and we'll continue to add features. Our hope (is) that we'll be able to add those features and continue to do it for free.

EGM: So do you see a rough timeline for when you can legitimately and honestly say, "We are now literally doing everything that Xbox Live is doing, but for free"?

JT: I think we'll look to evolve our online efforts, but I don't know that we've necessarily held up to the Xbox Live experience as the be-all end-all of where we want to be. We'll have features that they won't have; they may have features that we won't have. But I couldn't give you a timelineon a feature-by-feature basis.

EGM: That leads to what Sony CEO Howard Stringer once said...he admitted that the price of the PlayStation 3 is very high, but what we're really paying for is potential. Why can't we pay $600 for something that's worth that price right off the bat?

JT: What have you historically paid or would look to pay? Let's say $299 because that's what you paid for the PS2 when it came out or because that's what the low-end 360 costs. OK, if we're asking you to pay $600 fo rthe high-end PS3, I would point out a couple of things. Historically our platforms have staying power. Not three years, not five years, but 10 years. So are you making an investment for the next 45 days, the next year, the next five years, 10 years? Because that would have a little bit of determination as far as the value.
   I understand your point about, OK, the potential is there, but what's there day one? I would say that the PS3 has the best gaming experience of any platform that's ever shipped day one. (You're getting) the combination of great gaming, free online play, Blu-ray movie playback, being able to go online and surf the internet, the ability to download your pictures, download your videos, rip your music to it...and that's all stuff that I as a consumer experienced firsthand. If you want the ultimate gaming experience and you see value in all those other experiences, all of a sudden 599 bucks doesn't sound like a whole lot of money.

EGM: Out of all the things you just stated, only Blu-ray and free online are your real advantages. You can do all those other things on the Xbox 360...for $200 less.

JT: GOod point, but let me give you one differentiating factor: the PlayStation brand. What does PlayStation mean? PlayStation means you could have bought a PlayStation back in 1995, and it had software support and was selling tremendously well until 2005, and it'd still be selling today, but we stopped manufacturing the hardware. And then PlayStation 2 came out, and that sold 110 million units, and it's still the best-selling (console) seven holiday seasons later in 2007, and that had backwards compatibility with the original PlayStation.
   Let's say I went out and bought (a competing) system. How many of those machines lasted five years? None of them. How many of those machines still have great software support? None of them. So I may be making an incremental investment if those other features I just talked about are not unique to PS3, it's a brand that has staying power and has proved itself. Until we let the consumers down, that's going to be a strategic advantage for us. Hopefully we never will.

EGM: You boast about having a high-end machine, with 1080p high-definition output, and yet you don't include the video cables to take advantage of that. You include very low-end cables, in fact. What gives?

JT: The statistics I've read say that 38 percent of the TVs that were sold this year were high-def TVs. To me that says 62 percent were not high-def. There's a fairly high cost of goods to putting a component in the box that may or may not be used. We're providing the best value we can for consumers. The cables that we put in teh box will get the PS3 up and running, but if you want to optimize it, you'll need additional cables-it depends on what kind of setup you have.

EGM: What happened to your previously announced plans of having games run on two side-by-side widescreen HDTVs? It seems kind of impractical, but you guys brought it up.

JT: To be honest with you, I don't know the answer to that one. I don't recall teh statement, and I don't know what the status of it is. It's probably just fell of the radar as a, "Do we really need to do this?" thing. But to all the consumers who have their two HDTVs lined up ready to roll, our apologies...to both of them. (laughs)

EGM: Sony has said that the rumble feature was left out of the Sixaxis controller due to cost, not legal issues. The company who licenses the technology, Immersion, whom you've had legal problems with, told us that in a short period of time they've figured out three easy ways to include that technology with the Sixaxis controller, and it costs no more than the rumble in the PS2 DualShock 2 controller.

JT: We sold millions of units of hardwire with a controller standard that did not have vibration features in it, and we've sold millions with it. I've played a lot of games that had a vibration feature, and it personally wasn't all that compelling to me. We feel that vibration is not part of our future. If there is interest in a vibration feature, I'm sure there will be a numbe of manufactureres that will come out with peripheral controllers for PS3 that have vibration in them.

EGM: MotorStorm looks great, but it doesn't really look anything like the original video that you showed a couple of years ago to represent the gameplay. What is the purpose of misleading the public like that? Aren't you setting consumers up for disappointment later?

JT: Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion. I feel it looks identical and actually personally commented that it delivers on the promise of what we showed two years earlier. also, that was a prelook at a press conference. It wasn't shown to consumers; we didn't market that footage. We showed what the machine could do, and I think MotorStorm does and will deliver on that promise. The consumer will be the ultimate judge, and that's who we're beholden to.

EGM: Does that mean you expect Killzone 2 to end up looking as good as what you showed two years ago, too?

JT: I think Killzone looks great, from what I've seen of it. It'll be impressive.

EGM: While we're not on the subject, what is Afrika, exactly?

JT: (Laughs) Well, to me, Afrika is a tribute to what we've done, and I say this with all seriousness because I had the same reaction when I saw it. We did some stuff (in the past) that was kinda out-there, and one of those games that was near and dear to my heart...where I (initially) said, "What the hell is that?"...that turned out to be pretty culturally relevant: PaRappa the Rapper (for the PS1).
   So Afrika is something...I don't even know if it's a game. It's more of an interactive entertainment expereince, and I don't necessarily know if it's for the North American consumer. But I applaud the effort to go far out there. And if Afrika isn't relevant to the North American or mainstream consumer, maybe the technology will yield something that is.

EGM: How do you view the Xbox 360 as a competitor?

JT: Well, I wish we had no competition, on one hand. On the other hand I think competition is good because, as we certainly saw in Japan, we had the whole market to ourselves, and that put a lot of pressure on the PlayStation brand. There's not only competition within the games industry, there's a lot of competition in entertainment in general that's going to take (consumers) away, so we want to keep people in gaming. If our competitors get people in the aisle, looking at gaming, reading gaming magazines, we feel that's in our best interests-we've pulled them away from other forms of entertainment.

EGM: But how do you view the 360 specifically as a competitor?

JT: I think we've got a better machine, I think we've got a better business model, and I think we're going to win in the long term. I'm extremely pleased that we're selling more PS2 units than they are (360 units). That's something that quite frankly surprised me. But while early indicators are not completely irrelevant, you can't completely ignore them, and I'd be a little concerned if I were them. On the other hand, what concerns me is if the Xbox 360 is being rejected, are the consumers on board with (next-generation) technology and is there enough (demand) there?

EGM: In the past, Sony didn't seem to acknowledge or recognize the competition too much, taking on this cocky leadership role. But at the last press conference, you took a couple of potshots at Xbox 360, making fun of its noisiness and large power brick. Is that a sign that you're treating Microsoft as a legitimate threat now?

JT: No, I think that was an attempt to be funny. You're talking about two different things. As a business model, we've gone out and executed our business model regardless of when our competition was shipping, what our competition was pricing at, and what our competition's strategy was. I think it's fairly common that people want to make comparisons and maybe we feed into that a little bit. I don't spend a lot of time researching the statistics of our competitors' machines. I spend a lot of time tracking how we're doing, and quite frankly, if our competition is successful and we're successful, all the better for the industry. But if a consumer's going to buy one machine, we want them to buy ours.

EGM: A while back we learned that Sony was looking into copying Xbox 360's achievements system, calling them "entitlements." Are you familiar with that?

JT: To be honest with you, I'm not familiar with that discussion.

EGM: How do you view the Wii?

JT: I think Nintendo is trying to find their place in the market. The early results from what I've seen have been positive, but I don't know if that's the type of machine to take this industry in the quantum leaps that we've taken it over time. Again, are you reaching 100 million consumers worldwide, are you reaching upwards of 50 million consumers in North America, are you attracting new consumers, are you expanding the base? I think we've done a tremendous job of doing that over the last 11 years, and we've done it pretty much singlehandedly. I don't know if (the Wii) ultimately has the horses to do that. 

EGM: What are your short-term goals for the PS3 now?

JT: Short-term goal's to get as many units manufactured as we can as quickly as we can. We'd like to be able to bulk (ship) the goods in instead of emergency airlift them in-it's probably going to be the spring before that happens. That's goal number one. Goal number two is that, while I'm excited with what we accomplished at launch, and I think Resistance: Fall of Man is one of the greatest games I've ever been associated with on any platform, like the consuemrs, I'm anxious to get as many good games to market as quickly as possible-games that differenitiate our platform and really show what our platform can do. I think Resistance did a great job of that. I think MotorStorm will take it a step further, and I thin ktitles like Killzone 2, Warhawk, et cetera, some of those will really showcase the technology and take it form words to a visceral and viable expereince.

EGM: How about long-term?

JT: Once you've launched a platform, it's exciting, but you very quckly move int, OK, now that we've launched this platform, let's make it a success. To us, a success means...40-50 million consumers in North America. Succes means we're successful all around the world without exceptions. It's difficult to be successful in North America, but to do that in Japan and Europe at the same time is an extremely difficult task, because the consumers have different tastes. Three years into PS3 is when I'll be able to tell you with any degree of certainty how we're doing, how we've done, and how I think we'll do over the course of the life cycle. There's a ton of work to be done between now and then.

EGM: DO you believe the PS3 can push the Blu-ray format?

JT: I believe we can complement the Blu-ray format. Id on't think we can single-handedly drive the Blu-ray format. It's up to the consumer electronics companies; one of the (misconceptions) is that it's Sony's effort. I don't know that we feel we can or should single-handedly carry Blu-ray on our back. I see it as an asset, though. Blu-ray is a great value but most importantly, (it's of value) to the gamers. Blu-ray does wonderful things for the development community, and what they can bring to consumers on Blu-ray...that's something that no other machine offers.

EGM: How come you weren't really able to push the UMD format with PSP?

JT: The mistake we made in UMD as a movie format was assuming the movie studios understood our consumers and their tastes...that they knew what they were doing. They flooded the market with movies-I don't know that it was necessarily movies that appealed to your consumers. I know it wasn't at prices that appealed to our consumers. (I'd ask these questions) as a consumer: If you're charging me $19.99 for a DVD, why are you charging me $29.99 for a UMD? I'll pay 20 bucks for it-I'd certainly pay 15-but I'm not paying 29. And I'm not buying On Golden Pond.
   What we're doing now is we're going out and trying to educate the studios as to who our consumer is, and what their price tolerances are. We feel that UMD could be a viable format for movies on the PlayStation Portable if it's handled right.

EGM: What is your vision for the future of downloadable content? Do you hope to have every PS1 game available for download eventually?

JT: I think downloadable content is very exciting. It's not physically possible to put every game that's ever been made for the PlayStation on the shelf, and there are thousands of games that were published in Europe and Japan that the U.S. consumer never saw. So the opportunity to bring that content to consumers via download is very exciting.

EGM: When will advertising-supported games actually change the economics for gamers? Will it be something where companies will pass along the savings to consumers, or will it allow them to invest in more ambitious projects that they couldn't previously afford?

JT: I don't think there's a definitive answer to that. I think there's going to be a game that's completely ad-driven that's available for free. They're out there on the PC; I don't see any reason why they can't be out there on consoles. there's the opportunity to use that revenue to offfset development costs and contineu to fund and try to go as far as possible with the technology, and then there's the opportunity to use that revenue to ffset the amount of revenue you have to generate from retail, so we could bring retail (prices) down. All that being said, I don't think that in-game advertising is going to have a dramatic effect on game development or the way consumers play games any time in the near future.

EGM: We hear "games are for kids" just as often as "games are too adult and violent.: What can be done about this?

JT: We have to educate people that "game" is not a one-size-fits-all term. People don't say, "Movies are for kids" or "Movies are for adults." There are kid movies, there are adult movies, and there are chick flicks. There are movies that have a certain demographic in mind, and people don't paint movies with one broad brush. I think we're an an even more diverse form of entertainment. There is a consumer that is interested in an M-rated violent game with a deep plot, and relative to their age and their tastes, that's appropriate. Younger consumers may want a more casual, family-oriented experience-that's relevant, too.
   Consumers need to understand that not every game is for every consumer, just like they mmake choices in their TV programming and their movie selections. I just think not enough people understand gaming, because it has a 25-year history, whereas people have dealt with other forms of entertainment for much longer.

EGM: How do you nurture innovation when the financial risks are greater than ever?

JT: You better be (Resistance developer) Insomniac and be a very proven entity if you want us to invest upwards of $30 million and give you three years to develop a game for our platform. I don't think that's a realistic opportunity for somebody right out of college, but, conversly, we definitey have development opportunities on PS2, PlayStation Portable, and online (downloadable) games, where we are absolutely interested in smaller houses or people that are in the early stages of their careers.
   If somebody asked me, "I wanna get into the games industry. What field is the most wide-open?" I'd tell you it's development. That is the biggest investment we've made in employees on a worldwide basis...because, at the end of the day, you need that compelling software to make your hardware relevant.

EGM: What are the immediate challenges for the game industry?

JT: I think the gaming industry is a cannibalistic industry. We eat our own. We allow the press and the analyst communities to segregate us and minimize us. This is an iindustry that is bigger than box office: It's north of $10 billion in the U.S. alone, and there are still a lot of segments that consider it a toy or consider it to be a fad and not mainstream entertainment. You put years and millions if not billions in development behind a new system and people ask, "When's the next system coming out?"
   The risk we run is having a short-term mentality as an industry...and not looking at the long term. I'ts an industry right now that wants to rush, just keep rushing to whatever's hot and in the moment. Grand Theft Auto comes out and that's hot, so you get five Grand Theft Auto rip-offs. Then the industry shifts somewhere else and OK, it's all about that.
   I think one of the reasons we've surpassed the box officeis the movie companies can't afford to take risks anyore. Everything's a big, giant, shot-em-up blockbuster movie, and you don't have enough genres out there to bring as many people to the movies. So we must continue to invest in the long term, not just winning the battle from one Christmas to the next.

EGM: You directly impact the way the game industry evolves-what's your vision for the business?

JT: To ultimately be successful, you have to believe that every consumer matters. Not just the consumers in the territory, but consumers worldwide. And not just the hardcore consumers, not just the casual consumer...everybody matters.
   I think it's very difficult to take that broad view without limiting yourself in specific areas, so you have to devote resources to all segments of the market. I think a lot of companies get caught up in saying, "we can't be everything to everybody, so we're just going to all about the core" or "We're just going to be all about the casual consumer." While I think that will allow you to carve out a niche, to ultimately be successful to the standard we've enjoyed, you have to be relevant worldwide.

That's it for the interview, but there's a full page after it devoted to how the 360 and Wii are doing. Alongside the interview are sidebars of shorter quotes from various groups, so I figured I'd post those as well.

WHAT THE PRESS SAYS

We asked experts from all walks of life what they thought of the PlayStation 3 launch and what Sony needs to do moving forwards. Here's what they told us.

"The ony people disappointed with the PS3 launch are those who couldn't get a system. as the supply ramps up, I think enthusiasm for the PS3 will grow. And there needs to be some games that are PS3-only experiences that drive donsumers to want to pony up that $500-$600 for the system."

-Mike Snider, entertainment reporter, USA Today

"We're only three months into the launch. It's a little early to be talking disappointment, especially in the face of the Xbox 360, whose sales were disappointing for all of last year, except, perhaps, Decamber. If Sony consistently sells less than 300K units a month during 2007 like the Xbox 360 did in 2006, then it will be disappointing."

-N'Gal Craol, general editor (technology), Newsweek

"If Sony wanted fans disappointed about not getting their hands on an overpriced system with flaws right out of the box, the launch was unqualified success. Sony needs more good games. More exclusive good games. And they need to put them in a time machine to make them available Novermber 11, 2006."

-Adam Sessler, Host, G4's X-Play

"Were there disappointing elements to the PS3? SUre. But anyone who was expecting Sony to outdo Xbox Live on day one is dumber than a hedgehog grenade. We know online is Sony's weakness. They did a bit better than worst-case scenario for day one with online, but obviously they have a long way to go."

-Geoff Keighley, host, Spike TV's Game Head

WHAT THE DEVELOPERS SAY

"I expected more from a company that had one more year than Microsoft to improve upon what the competition was doing. Why (Sony) couldn't have an online architecture half as good as (that of) Xbox Life is beyond me. I don't know the last time that horsepower alone wone a console war, but that's what they seem to be banking on."

-Anonymous game designer

"(PlayStation Network) was a debacle from day one. Basically, the developers have to do all the heavy lifting. Microsoft required us to simply plug in to their code. Sony requires us to build it or use an outside technology source. Unfortunately, I feel that the quality of the titles could be much improved if the development process wasn't so excruciatingly painful.
   "As far as our relationship goes, Microsoft is far superior in terms of communication, support, and timeliness.... Even the initial technical certification requirement documentation (from Sony) was late and then only came in Japanese. We had to hire a translator. Do you think that sped things up or slowed them down? Who needs additional headaches when you're already trying to accomplish the impposible?
   "As a studio, we're excited about the possibilities on the PlayStation 3, and we'll jump through hoops to support it, but that doesn't mean we have to pretend to be happy about it."

-Anonymous game producer

WHAT THE ANALYSTS SAY

"Sony needs to make the 20GB (PS3) their main (version to sell at retail). It has Blu-ray and HDMI, and that is all that gamers should really care about. By shifting the manufacturing mix to favor this (version), they can effectively cut the price to $500 and will probably see a pickup in sales. I don't think that the diffference between 20GB and 60GB is enough to justify the price, and based upon Microsoft's numbers, only around 40 percent of 360 owners actively use Xbox Live, so the built-in Wi-Fi won't likely appeal to the majority of the PS3 buyers. Better to leave the adapter as a peripheral and offer a 200GB external drive for people who want to download a lot of content."

-Michael Pachter, analyst, Wedbush Morgan Securities

"The launch was disapppointing insofar as both hardware and software, particularly in Japan, where limited inavaiilability-and (the selectio of) software was very limited. The biggest issue that disappointed consumers was price. In terms of goodwill, I think Sony should have had a more complete offereing from day one to justifiy the price premium."

-Hiroshi Kamide, analyst, KBC Securities Japan

WHAT THE RETAILERS SAY

"No matter what media outlets said about Resistance, the ggame was considered average (by) many gamers who played it. I've heard the words 'boring' and 'OK' used to describe it by almost every gamer I've talked to-and they own the machine! The PS3 is being asked for mainly by Europeans wh oare visiting or studying in the city."

-Anonymous manager, GameStop

"Customers are disappointed, telling us that too many of the launch games are also avaiable on the Xbox 360, and the first-party titles weren't innovative enough for them. We have 24 PS3s in stock right now. We're actually getting more returns than we are selling systems."

-Anonymous senior game advisor, EB Games

WHAT THE MARKETERS SAY

"Sony needs to be more human in its approach with media and consumers. Get off the throne and recognize that this is a real battle, that consumers have strong alternatives, and that Sony truly appreciates the loyalty, passion, and support that its millions of fans have shown over the years."

-Anonymous marketing director

"Do you want to talk about launch debacles? Has everyone forgotten the MTV reveal of the Xbox 360?"

-Anonymous public relations manager

"(Sony needed) to develope a more innovative product with significant product differentiation. Yes, graphics and speed are important to gamers; these are what we call 'performance' needs. The better the graphics and the faster the speed, the greater the customer satisfaction. However, what really helps with creating a competitive advantage is trying to ascertain the 'excitement' needs of the customers...those which the customer can't communicate to you, but if you can uncover and deliver on them, satisfaction is geometrically increased. It appears that Nintendo with its Wii has sone that while Sony has not."

-Gloria Barczak, professor of marketing, Northeastern University

WHAT THE GAMERS SAY

From our message boards at EGMboards.1UP.com:

"Why should I pay 4200 more for a PS3 when the Xbox 360 has the same multiplatform games-but they look better?"

-RahXephon

"(Sony) needs to (ensure) that they don't lose any more third-party support. If they lose (Metal Gear Solid 4), then the Xbox 360 will win this generation."

-MaximumX

"(They) hyped 1080p (resolution), yet no launch games supported it, and they didn't even pack in the cable that lets you view 1080p content."

-Ninja_Gamer

"Sony needs to drop the 'PS3 has the best technology' attitude and find a way to reconnect with gamers...by ensuring the best games can be found on their console."

-Rooks

"There was no reason to buy it at launch. If the game you're looking forward to doesn't come out for five months, you're better off waiting to buy the system..."

-Mswakon

"Sony's carefree attitdue about their competition, sheer arrogance toards consumers, and overcifidence in this industry combined to make one of the s***tiest launches in gaming history."

-UltramanJ

"We all know damn well most of the people b****ing about (the PS3) would buy one if they could actually afford it."

-Neo_Pet

this was the same clown that predicted xbox live would fail b/c "noone wants to play console games online"... :roll:

(PSN rollout)

he's an idiot... then again, he works for sony, so he's right at home..;)

Going to start typing this out. It's very long, so it's probably going to take awhile and several updates. Mods, just lock the thread if it falls under the copyright violation post. Any typos are mine.

Jack Tretton isn't worried about the PS3's negative press. Sony Computer Entertainment America's new president and CEO has a clear message for everyone: Just wait and see. Armed with our own tough questions (and a few zingers from our intrepid readers), we ask him to defend the PS3's troubled debut, map out its path to future success, and comment on the overall state of the gaming industry.

Jack Treton joined Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) at its inception in 1995 as director of sales and was around for the launch of every PlayStation platform. He was promoted to president and CEO of SCEA in November of 2006. He is responsible for day-to-day management of operations, licensing, business development, marketing, sales, and cheering for the New England Patriots.

EGM: In all these years of covering this industry, we've only really seen one other system launch that had this much negativity surrounding it: the Sega Saturn. What happened?

Jack Tretton: The problem we have... It's society in general. We've been the undisputed winner for over a decade now, and people keep waiting for us to slip up, and we haven't, so people try to create stories that aren't there. The reality is, by ever measurement-and I would challenge you to come up with some negative ones-the PlayStation 3 was the most successful launch we've ever had.

EGM: How are you measuring this success?

JT: We got a lot of press at (videogame trade show) E3 two years before PS3 launched. People said, "Wow, great presentation...really loved the press conference." That's the press' opinion. The pres declares that our press event was positive.
   As we moved towards launch, as consumers started to get their hands on the device and read about what could do, they got very, very excited about it, and that culminated on November 17. When you could bet people across North America at 20,000 retail locations camping out trying to get their hands on a PS3, then you obviously have something that's got a tremendous amout of consumer interest, and that happened.

EGM: Well, let's talk about that for as econd, because, from our unscientific studies, it seemed that about 50 percent of those people in line were there to make a quick buck on eBay. And now we're seeing a lot more units on store shelves.

JT: Really?

EGM: Yeah.

JT: 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. I can get any retail buyer on teh phone with you and get them to verify that there's not a single retail location in America where there's a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale. They've all been sold in a matter of minutes. (Editor's note: This interview took place in early January 2007.)

EGM: But we called 18 random retailers, including Best Buy and EB Games, and half of them had PS3s in stock...some had as many as 20 in the store. So you can buy them now if you wanted.

JT: We've shipped more than 1 million PS3 units to North American customer sin the first 43 days since launch. I am not sitting in the store to know when they got put on shelves or if a salesperson is giving you accurate information, but if only nine of the 18 stores you contacted had supplies, that seems to be a clear indications that sales continue to be outstanding.
   And if people are (camping) out to buy our machinesto sell them on eBay, and successfully sold them at an extremely large profit, I don't think you'd find a company in the world that'd say, "Yeah that is pretty depressing. Not only did people (camp) out for them, they resold them at a $2,500 profit overnight-yeah, I'm pretty disappointed with our launch." It's hard for me to see the glass half-empty in that.

GrlGmr

OWNED.

EGM: But we called 18 random retailers, including Best Buy and EB Games, and half of them had PS3s in stock...some had as many as 20 in the store. So you can buy them now if you wanted.

this was the same clown that predicted xbox live would fail b/c "noone wants to play console games online"... :roll:

(PSN rollout)

he's an idiot... then again, he works for sony, so he's right at home..;)

tango90101

Let me guess you know how you run a billion dollar company..........of course you can.........you post on gamespot!

this was the same clown that predicted xbox live would fail b/c "noone wants to play console games online"... :roll:

(PSN rollout)

he's an idiot... then again, he works for sony, so he's right at home..;)

tango90101

EVERY game retailer where I live has PS3s in stock. That guy was owned bad.

USSJAndrew

So you have been to each and every store in your area that is pretty impressive...

[QUOTE="USSJAndrew"]EVERY game retailer where I live has PS3s in stock. That guy was owned bad.

Ericvon71

So you have been to each and every store in your area that is pretty impressive...

Not really since theres a target, a walmart, an EB Games, an Blockbuster(gamerush), a gamestop and thats it. Theres also an Ebay store, but I havent gone there, and dont think I need to.

EGM: Out of all the things you just stated, only Blu-ray and free online are your real advantages. You can do all those other things on the Xbox 360...for $200 less.

JT: GOod point, but let me give you one differentiating factor: the PlayStation brand. What does PlayStation mean? PlayStation means you could have bought a PlayStation back in 1995, and it had software support and was selling tremendously well until 2005, and it'd still be selling today, but we stopped manufacturing the hardware. And then PlayStation 2 came out, and that sold 110 million units, and it's still the best-selling (console) seven holiday seasons later in 2007, and that had backwards compatibility with the original PlayStation.
   Let's say I went out and bought (a competing) system. How many of those machines lasted five years? None of them. How many of those machiens still have great software support? None of them. So I may be making an incremental investment if those other features I just talked aboutare not unique to PS3, it's a brand that has staying power and has proved itself. Until we let the consumers down, that's going to be a strategic advantage for us. Hopefully we never will.

When you start talking about buying a brandname...you've ran out of BS.

Resistance: Fall of Man was our best reviewed title and the number-one-selling game on the platform, so I am not sure why you would say it was lacking. Wow that is like saying... hey virtual boy tennis is the best selling game on the virtual boy and its also the best reviewed.. so im not sure why you would say virtual boy tennis is lacking..farnham

:lol:

They could make that into some stupid reality show.  The Jack Tretton $1200 Challenge.  Maybe I'll send a writeup down to Fox.KodiakGTS

Smart guy, but can't handle the pressure. It's a PR job to make eveything positive. Hat's off to him for trying. The question were very fanboyish also. To say why the PS3 is not accepted so well, but yet they all sold out in the first 3 weeks. Then when will PS3 online be like Xbox360? com'on that's like saying Hey Reebok when are you going to make the Air Force Ones like Nike? You don't strive to be like your competition. You strive to be better than them.shungokustasu

Smart guy, but can't handle the pressure. It's a PR job to make eveything positive. Hat's off to him for trying. The question were very fanboyish also. To say why the PS3 is not accepted so well, but yet they all sold out in the first 3 weeks. Then when will PS3 online be like Xbox360? com'on that's like saying Hey Reebok when are you going to make the Air Force Ones like Nike? You don't strive to be like your competition. You strive to be better than them.shungokustasu

[QUOTE="shungokustasu"]Smart guy, but can't handle the pressure. It's a PR job to make eveything positive. Hat's off to him for trying. The question were very fanboyish also. To say why the PS3 is not accepted so well, but yet they all sold out in the first 3 weeks. Then when will PS3 online be like Xbox360? com'on that's like saying Hey Reebok when are you going to make the Air Force Ones like Nike? You don't strive to be like your competition. You strive to be better than them.cakeorrdeath

Is that guy mentally challenged or he just wants attention ?Felous1

It's called PR spinning. shungokustasu

[QUOTE="shungokustasu"]It's called PR spinning. Felous1

What do you think about MS PR's?shungokustasu

[QUOTE="Felous1"][QUOTE="shungokustasu"]It's called PR spinning. shungokustasu

He doesn't know crap about his own brand, the lineup was almost as good as PS1 and PS2 hahaha.Meat_Wad_Fan

this was the same clown that predicted xbox live would fail b/c "noone wants to play console games online"... :roll:

(PSN rollout)

he's an idiot... then again, he works for sony, so he's right at home..;)

tango90101

Yeah.. I remember that. I can't believe they haven't fired this guy yet.

did this dude even answer anything? he just gave biased opinions and blamed random things. :|