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Sony has reason to be pleased. Last night at PlayStation Day in London SCEE head honcho David Reeves took to the stage to announce that the PS3 has sold over 5 million throughout Europe, a figure achieved at a similar time frame as the PS2. But, even more important for Sony Europe’s president, he revealed that the PS3 has been consistently outselling the Xbox 360 despite its price drop and launch 16 months before the PS3. But we know there are still questions to be answered, and that’s why we caught up with Reeves following his speech, shoved a tape recorder in his face and quizzed him on the game of the moment… GTA 4, and that awkward MS exclusive DLC deal.
VideoGamer.com: How pleased have you been with how GTA 4 has performed?
David Reeves: It’s been invaluable for us. Obviously it’s the biggest title that PS3 has ever seen. It’s spiked our sales and we’re very happy with the way the bundle has sold and we’re very happy with the way that software has gone as well.
VideoGamer.com: Can you give us any figures for UK or Europe?
DR: I think you’ll get the UK figures from ChartTrack. But I’m not going to quote any figures until we get… I think probably what we have to do is to do that with Take 2 and Rockstar together. I don’t think we’re able to just say that’s exactly what we’ve sold. But we’re extremely happy with the way things have gone with that title. The reorders are phenomenal and they’re just trying to press as many Blu-ray discs in Salzburg as they can.
VideoGamer.com: Would you say some people have been waiting for this game to buy a PS3?
DR: Yeah. I think you can say that was true of GT5 Prologue, it was true of GTA 4 it will be true probably of Metal Gear Solid. I think it might even be true of LittleBigPlanet but for different reasons, but people say oh, now there’s a game I like, I’ll buy it. But I think you’re right, some people have been saying OK I’ll buy it when I think there’s a good game out and in the mean time I’ll use PS2 or Xbox or whatever I’ve got.
VideoGamer.com: I wanted to ask you about Microsoft and the DLC secured for GTA 4. Is it damaging to Sony and PlayStation that there is no DLC for GTA 4 on PS3?
DR: Well I think you probably will see it, it’s just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take 2 to do that. And if that’s what they want to do, I think that’s the last shot they have.
VideoGamer.com: Your impression is that the 360 is a sinking ship?
DR: No I don’t think it’s a sinking ship. I think they have contributed amazingly to the growth of the industry. And I think we have done exactly the same. We don’t criticise the competition because we are all in this industry and the only way you can do it is to actually bring more consumers in. So I’m not going to criticise them. All I’m saying is that I think that when we look ahead I think we honestly have a better line-up on PlayStation 3 than they probably do on Xbox. They’ve had two or three Christmases now, I can’t remember how many, but I think we’ve got a really good one coming up. Not just Christmas but in the summer as well.
VideoGamer.com: Do you have any message for PS3 owners, Sony fans who perhaps had wanted some GTA 4 DLC, has seen the MS exclusive deal and thought, is there anything in store for us?
DR: I would say to them then, you know, email Rockstar (laughs), ask them what’s coming. And I think they already are!
VideoGamer.com: Is there something coming?
DR: I’m honestly not going to make any comment on that because it’s too big a thing to… we can make an announcement when we make an announcement.
VideoGamer.com: Thanks for your time.
