Hirai: PS3's Identity Confused Third Parties

[blackdelsol94]

Hirai: PS3's Identity Confused Third Parties
Thus, we see the tribulations of trying to market a device as the be all and end all of entertainment machines. Hirai says re-branding of the PS3 as a game console at TGS has turned things around.
Posted by David Radd on Monday, May 12, 2008


In speaking to MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai commented that the initial branding of the PS3 as an all-in-one entertainment device "confused" third parties at first, but has since been resolved. These remarks are similar to what he said last week about the difficulties of the PS3 launch being mostly remedied.

"I think there was some confusion as to what PS3 was initially – some of the third parties didn't understand and they wanted to scale back a little and see how things went before they really put in their resources," said Hirai. "But when I re-positioned the PS3 as a video games console at Tokyo Game Show I think everybody got that message loud and clear."

[tha_con]

This....


....doesn't make sense. I think they were more baffeled by the hardware and how to use it.

[Cdiesel]

yea that doesnt make sense

[divinewisdom]

makes sense to me.

[tha_con]

Originally Posted by divinewisdom

makes sense to me.

Well, unfortunately blackdelsol didn't post the entire quote.

He is talking about 3rd parties being confused because they thought it might be more of a video machine than a game machine, which doesn't make sense at all. Basically, 3rd parties avoided it initially and kept their funding low because it was hard to develop for and the install base was small. The perception didn't change, the developer tools and install base did.

[blackdelsol94]

Originally Posted by tha_con

Well, unfortunately blackdelsol didn't post the entire quote.

He is talking about 3rd parties being confused because they thought it might be more of a video machine than a game machine, which doesn't make sense at all. Basically, 3rd parties avoided it initially and kept their funding low because it was hard to develop for and the install base was small. The perception didn't change, the developer tools and install base did.

That's all there was to the article, man.

But this: "3rd parties avoided it initially and kept their funding low because the install base was small," directly correlates to Hirai saying, "some of the third parties didn't understand and they wanted to scale back a little and see how things went before they really put in their resources."

Sony did initially market the PS3 heavily as 'more than a game machine,' almost to the point of putting other things first, which was a big pitfall for the system. To the defense of the PS3, it's similar to the way in which most game machines seem to be headed. What can ya do?

[tha_con]

I wasn't taking a jab at you, just that the article you posted didn't have the whole story.

But yes, he talks about how the focus was very broad, and not very focused at all, which is why they put the new emphasis on games last year.

His point throughout the interview was that developers were confused because Sony's marketing direction focused less on videogames and more on multimedia and other features.

My thing is, I think 3rd parties stayed away because of difficulties with the technology, development costs, the Wii and 360, and a small user base. There were multiple factors that initially held a lot of 3rd parties back from really digging into the PS3, and in my opinion, confusion wasn't really one of them.

[divinewisdom]

we agree to agree this time.