Sony: PS3 'still in early adopter phase'
A console for the 'tech-oriented consumer'.
The PlayStation 3 is "still in its early adopter phase", Sony has claimed, despite the console being out for over two years.
Speaking in an interview with Gamasutra, John Koller, director of hardware marketing at SCEA, said that the kind of person who was interested in the PS3 was "tech-oriented" and that for them, the console's main appeal was its "multi-functionality".
Sony's PS3 has come under fire from a number of analysts in recent months, many of whom have pointed towards its high price as explanation of its current third place sales position behind the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360.
Sony, for its part, has continued to resist calls for a price cut, pointing towards the PS3's high-value as a Blu-ray player and powerful games machine.
And only last week Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida pointed towards hotly anticipated PS3-exclusive titles such as Killzone 2, inFamous, Heavy Rain and MAG as evidence that 2009 promises to be a big one for PS3 owners.
He said: "2009 will be the year of big, exclusive PS3 titles. Just to name a few, the year will start with the much anticipated launch of Killzone 2, followed by a fresh, new take on the superhero/anti-hero open sandbox genre inFamous, a mind-bending thriller Heavy Rain, a massive 256 player simultaneous online shooter MAG, an augmented reality, virtual pet in your room experience EyePet, and some more big titles that we have not even announced yet."
Sony's Koller told Gamasutra: "The PS3 is still in its early adopter phase, tech-oriented consumer... they're interested in the multi-functionality of the system."
He also chimed in on the PSP's demographic, saying "it's more of a 13-17 year old [demographic], multi-ethnic, a bit lower-income as well (as the PS2)".
What do you think about Koller's comments on PS3? Let us know in the comments section below.
User Comments
Karlius
CheekyLee
You are correct, Woffls, in that the PS3 apparently has an entire world of multimedia options. Some of it seemingly pointless, too. Enable WMA and ATRAC support, for example. This is excellent, except ...
What the hell is ATRAC? Now, I happen to know, but I'm willing to bet 'FIFAFANFRANK09' doesn't. Nor will most of his friends. Or, they might know and not care. And that's what I was trying to say in my post. The people to whom such things matters are not buying PS3s as media players. They are buying dedicated hardware. The gamers don't care what music and video formats their games machine supports, just what games it does.
I once said that the PS3 should have come in two versions. BluRay, and DVD. That way, developers wouldn't have to be restricted to making BluRay games, and the prohibitive barrier to owning a PS3 for most gamers, the cost, would be alleviated. I stand by that.
Karlius
DTS is present on the 360 you just have to invest in an optical lead or HDMI to get the best from it but IT'S PERFECTLY CAPABLE. Proof
YouTube Video
360 can also output Dolby TrueHD it just needs the right decoder at the end to out put the file. So have you got a TrueHD amp as without one you won't hear a slight difference. And most people don't own one. So you may be impressed with the Technology but its no good without other technology to go with it.
Just one more thing CheekyLee you hit the nail on the head you summed up exactly what I was thinking and posted a great comment. Thanks for an interesting read.
Woffls
I finally got one yesterday, and the depth of the options available for customising it is just astounding. I can choose which PCM frequencies I want it to play back in... as far as I know 360 doesn't even support PCM or DTS for that matter. Not to mention Dolby TrueHD and BluRay playback...
At least I hope that's what Sony are referring to as early adoption.
CheekyLee
Gamers want games, this is of the most pressing importance. PS3 has less games than the other competitors. That's ok, says Sonyfriend, the games are coming. Well, good. Tell me when they get here, would you, because I'd rather be playing something NOW.
For the less obsessive gamer, there are other factors when making the decision of which console to buy. SONY lost here, too, as the major one of these is price. There really is no comparison here, PS3 is far and away the most expensive choice. And all that 'out of the box vs what else you need to buy' stuff doesn't matter. These kinds of gamers, the ones looking to play casually or leisurely, won't look at that. They just look at price TODAY.
And finally, there are all the media centre/BluRay player owners. Well, it seems that they would rather spend more money on dedicated seperates than combining it all into a wonder box that is actually known for being a games console. I can buy a BluRay player for less than a new PS3 at the moment.
Which would suggest that the success of the PlayStation brand has actually hurt the PS3 in some ways. Gamers expecting the same massive amount of games were underwhelmed, casuals expecting a cheap SingStar machine were priced out of the market, and the elite technophiles had better top-end choices elsewhere.
The PS3 has found its sales level, sadly, and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I said before the launch that it would be the new 3D0, and nothing I have seen so far has proved me wrong.
hahaha
fantasymeister, you missed the point. it doesn't matter what sony wants/wishes in terms of market cycles. its what the customer wants and expects. a failing system that looks forward to 10 years isn't going to cut it. maybe if they were number 1 after 2 years but thats not the case. sony is continually losing money, price cut or not. whoever said sony will eventually win the console war is completely delusional like all the other sony fanboys in denial. ms would have already won and move on to their next console which would probably be the same price as the current ps3 and easier on the developers. moving on to the next console after you've done BETTER than the competition is not considered victory on sony's part. sorry sony lost this console war.
mull
P.s. i think sony have done no bad for ps3 considering they still sell PS2's as well , and selling over 17 million ps3's at the the high price as the tight folk put it
means $ for $ that the money made from these sales is actually more for Sony , dont get me started about the Wii my 3 year old can play it its crap and no step up from gamecube infact its a step back cause gamecube had better games not cartoony ones.
Karl
Anonymous
DagonFel
St_Taylor_UK
DagonFel
That is the farthest thing from the truth.... either you are jealous that you do not have a blu ray, you do not have an HDTV, or you really hate sony because blu ray is leaps and bounds above DVD in visual and audio quality. And that's a FACT.
PopularHostage
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