Jack Tretton: Diversity Defines PlayStation
It has long been said that one of Sony’s biggest selling points is it’s vast variety of quality games they offer. Sony’s exclusives range from straight up shooter with Killzone 2, to casual family fun with Buzz!, to high-octane sports with MLB 09: The Show, and everything in between.
So it’s no surprise to hear that SCEA’s top dog, Jack Tretton agrees with this mantra.
Jack Tretton is partly to thank for the companies decades of diverstiy, as he’s been with SCEA since it’s inception in 1995. Back then he was director of sales, but now he is discussing how units sold isn’t a as large a merit as a solid lineup of games and features.
Tretton, while speaking to Fast Company, feels that the variety that Sony is known for is paramount to sales:
We want the platform to be successful, we want to be profitable. But it is getting harder to measure that. And when you get down to a game like The Last Guardian, you can’t just look at the number of units it sold versus it’s development cost; it’s what did you do to drive our message of diversity.
Jack doesn’t stop there, as the message translates over to the capabilities of the PlayStation 3:
We could’ve come out with a PlayStation 2.5 for $299 or less, and in the first two or three years it would sell extremely well. But there would be a point where people would be going, “I am not really seeing the incremental leap.” We feel that we’re sacrificing the short term to pay dividends in the long term.
PlayStation 3 owners know this diversity well. It’s in our games and it’s in our console’s capabilities and functionality, be it as a Blu-Ray player and a perfect pairing with your HDTV, or strictly as a gaming console. PlayStation 3 has it all, and it’s growing every day.
[Source]
11 Responses to “Jack Tretton: Diversity Defines PlayStation”
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July 8th, 2009 at 12:51 AM
I have to agree entirely with Jack’s sentiments. I would never buy a Microsoft console just because I don’t believe they are an honest company who really cares about their customers’ experience. Sony wants its customers to have a unique experience and doesn’t want to just rush out a bunch of crappy games and a problem riddled piece of hardware just to put up huge sales figures. I believe it may actually be in the difference between the Japanese and American cultures. The Japanese are a proud people and would never sacrifice pride for profit. Where as for most American companies they just want to make a lot of money and that’s why so many of them continue to outsource work and manufacturing.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:12 AM
Jack’s quite right, and I like how Jack never has to attack the competition in any way to say why he believes their console is better.
I like the PS3 the best, just because it offers a huge variety of great exclusives from company’s that bring unique ideas or improve of an idea or something.
Not being a fanboy at all(seriously), but if you love games and don’t have a PS3 you’re missing out on a ton of amazing games.
Can’t wait for the exclusives announced, and ones to come.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:39 AM
Jack Tretton is an amazing P.R. person–a perfect fitting for the Sony press conferences for E3. He’s not full of B.S. like typical industry figures; he cuts to the chase and states the facts.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:59 AM
It’s comforting to know that is how Sony thinks….except that part about not caring about money. That’s BS, but the rest I think is true. All other PR people just give BS about how their products are great that don’t really mean anything.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:21 AM
Jack Tretton does say they want to be profitable, now when he talked about units sold in gamewise it was slightly different but he never said he DIDN’T want those games to be profitable. But I will admit it kind of does sound like he is saying that when it comes to games making a profit isn’t a deal at all…Of course I still think releasing new original titles is more important to them, but you never know.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:40 AM
I sorta wish Jack would pay more attention to the PS3/PSP in leui of both the PSPgo and PS3 and PS2.
Cut the PS2 development, speed up the motion R&D, bring PSN netflix/BlockBuster onine, and bring GT5. He is a good figurehead for Sony and believe thats catoring to everyone is a better strategy than catering to a certain demographic i.e. Wii=Grandma and Xbox=Homicidal People
GJ for the Props to him Sev.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:46 AM
I love my PS3 too. I hope Sony can get benefits in any form I don’t really care, as long as they can offer amazing experience to the customers. lol
July 8th, 2009 at 11:11 AM
just to clear things up, I never said they don’t WANT to be profitable, just that they would never sacrifice pride for profit. Of course they want to make money if they can.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Tretton is the man, and I can’t get enough of my PS3
July 8th, 2009 at 12:23 PM
price cut confirmed…
July 8th, 2009 at 5:03 PM
How does that transfer into a price cut?