Phil Harrison: We are under no pressure to drop the price of the PS3

[Cheese007]

GameDaily BIZ: Are you bothered by all the negative press about Sony and the PS3 lately? Even certain mainstream press publications have labeled the console biggest disappointment, etc...

 

 

Phil Harrison: No, not a bit. I think, first of all, the so called negativity is in a fairly narrow section of the media. The most important thing, however, is that the people who buy the system love it, and the fact that we have great reaction—great scores if you will—from the people who bought PS3 [who've enjoyed] the games that they've played and the services that they get. That's all that really matters. I don't really care about the negativity in the press; if it was true, if they were talking about real big issues that were genuine criticisms, then of course we'll address them, but there's nothing that bothers me. I think the fact that we are able to have a very well organized, very well managed supply channel, which allows us to keep the stores restocked, is a really positive thing. You would be sitting here saying, "Why the hell are you out of stock? Why the hell can't you manage the supply chain and why can't people buy PS3s?" So we're actually doing in succeeding in managing to keep the demand satisfied, so I think that's a positive.

 

BIZ: That actually leads into my next question, because a lot of the analysts have been making a big deal out of the fact that retailers seem to continue to sell out of the Wii while PS3s are found in stock at more stores. What do you make of that?

 

 

PH: I think you should talk to the people who are running those stores. Talk to the people who run GameStop, talk to the people who run BestBuy, and they'll tell you that the demand is unprecedented and that they give us kudos for managing to keep a very sophisticated supply chain moving. What our competitors are doing I can't speak to but I know we are achieving our goals of keeping the market supplied and working closely with retailers to make sure they get informed about when supplies are coming in so that they can match their internal and external communications to store managers and consumers about when to buy a PS3. If that means that for Wednesday through Friday there were a few machines on a shelf in a store in Milwaukee, great!

 

BIZ: But don't you feel pressure from the realities of the market and people who maybe don't want to spend $600? Do you feel there is pressure to drop the price this year?

 

 

PH: Absolutely no pressure at all. I think that the reality of the market is that there's a great deal of software people want to buy, there's a great deal of software coming that will stimulate further activity in the market. We're very comfortable with the plan.

 

BIZ: A lot of gamers, including myself, enjoy the controller's motion sensing at times, but we still miss rumble. If gamers want it and are vocal enough, will Sony reintroduce the force feedback at some point?

 

 

PH: We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function—not from us but from third parties.

 

BIZ: So no regrets?

 

 

PH: No regrets whatsoever, and it's those kinds of decisions, painful though they were to live through in the last quarter of 2006, those are the decisions that are going to propel PlayStation 3 to be a platform that lasts for ten years, like we've seen with PS1 and PS2. And it will be, I believe, reflected on as the smartest decision we ever made.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15342

Edited February 26, 2007 by Cheese007

[S1500]

Well, I guess when nobody's interested in buying the console, you wouldn't have any pressure to drop the price.

[MCHufnagel]

Translation on rumble being last generation: "We are already losing enough on the system that we aren't going to pay royalties or R & D for adding rumble".

[Shannon]

Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature.

 

The wii has much more sophisticated motion sensing than the six axis, AND rumble, AND a built in speaker, AND sram for storing Wii information.

 

Puuuhleeeeeaaasee..

[+Random Terrain]

Full-body force-feedback suits are a next-generation feature, so where are they? And where is my holodeck?!!

[8th lutz]

He is Out of touch and he is no different from rest of sony mangement. This is the same company that didn't price drop the psp. My younger brother works at a kmart in the Milwaukee Area. He works in the electronics area and he told me his store at lot of ps3 systems in stock with no costumers asking for a ps 3. This month, the kmart my brother works at only sold 1 ps 3 and that was an employee that bought that 1 ps 3 while there was a lot ps 3 systems in stock. At the same store, customers have been asking about the nintendo wii. The kmart works at has difficult to keep the wii in stock do to demand. If the store my brother works at is any indication to other stores that sells ps 3 systems and games, then sony is in trouble.

 

 

The price of the ps 3 is part of the problem with the ps 3. At this time, the ps3 does not have an exclusive must have game in stores outside of Resistance: Fall of Man. Part of that is caused by 3rd parties porting the same gameto other game systems. Also from an online gaming standpoint, X-box live has more available for games to download then sony does and even the wii has more games to downloaded then sony does. Unless if I am missing something here, I recalled sony announcing that their online gaming systems included the turbo graphic 16 and the sega genesis at tgs 2006. I haven't heard about any online games from Hudson soft being on their website. This is the same company that said sometime download the road, Saturn games will be able to be downloaded.

Edited February 27, 2007 by 8th lutz

[Jess Ragan]

Sony's just going to have to learn the hard way. If they want to stay in the console wars, they're going to have to swallow their pride and learn humility.

 

JR

[xenomorpher]

It wouldn't be as bad if the PS3 at ten worth owning games at launch instead of one.

[Albert]

Wow, talk about spin control. Pretty much everything out of his mouth was obvious BS. They can't even be honest about why they didn't include rumble support in the PS3 controller. I love how he tries to downplay that as a "last generation" feature. ROFL! And all the rambling about how great their distribution and supply chain is to explain why all these stores have plenty of PS3s in stock!! I'd respect Sony if they were honest, but every time I see statements from their executives like this it only makes me hope they get their comeuppance.

 

..Al

[Gregory DG]

Keep it up Sony! The more you spin this BS the farther back you'll be from MS and Nintendo. Jeez, if 99% of their customers wanted the Rumble feature put back into the controller, would Sony cave or claim, "Well, 100% of our customers don't want it!"

[Jess Ragan]

Will Immersion Technologies ever get their money from Sony? It's been over a year since the court ruled in their favor and I still don't think they've gotten paid. You've got to love a court system that lets you appeal over and over until you get the judgment you want...

 

JR

[MCHufnagel]

Will Immersion Technologies ever get their money from Sony? It's been over a year since the court ruled in their favor and I still don't think they've gotten paid. You've got to love a court system that lets you appeal over and over until you get the judgment you want...

 

JR

Same story as with Bleem. But Immersion has enough money from Nintendo and MS to stay in the fight.

[Bilnick]

I read somewhere recently (EGM or IGN, not 100% sure) that the PS3 sold more units in its first 2 months than the PS1 or PS2 did in thier first 2 months.

 

Is the PS3 really doing that bad?

 

The number and quality of PS3 launch titles seem to be on par with other systems.

 

Yeah it seemed Sony had supply problems the first month or two, but you can find one in the stores now. I read some comments on this board where people almost imply that being able to get one is a bad thing. I do not understand that attitude. Having a hot product creates good press for a while, but there is no excuse for short supplies 3-4 months after the launch. The availability of Xbox 360 systems was pitiful for the first 4-5 months, and Nintendo seems as equally inept at meeting demand.

 

The PS3 launched with online capabilities on day one. The online service is not as nice as Xbox live, but it sure is cheaper (free!). I prefer Live over the Playstation Network, but both are miles ahead of Nintendo. (Three and a half months after the launch and still no online games???? Wii Sports or Excite Truck would be ideal games to play online.)

 

The games available on the Playstation Store are ok. My biggest complaint would be that the PS1 games for PSP can only be played on the PSP. They should also be playable on the PS3. It seems they are following the Xbox Live model of offering a mix of original titles and some classic games. I have a few classic games on Xbox Live, but the majority of my purchases have been original titles. Every game available should have a demo version to try before you buy though.

 

Does the PS3 have room for improvement? Absolutely. For the most part I am happy with my PS3 thusfar.

[MCHufnagel]

I read somewhere recently (EGM or IGN, not 100% sure) that the PS3 sold more units in its first 2 months than the PS1 or PS2 did in thier first 2 months.

 

Is the PS3 really doing that bad?

 

The number and quality of PS3 launch titles seem to be on par with other systems.

 

Yeah it seemed Sony had supply problems the first month or two, but you can find one in the stores now. I read some comments on this board where people almost imply that being able to get one is a bad thing. I do not understand that attitude. Having a hot product creates good press for a while, but there is no excuse for short supplies 3-4 months after the launch. The availability of Xbox 360 systems was pitiful for the first 4-5 months, and Nintendo seems as equally inept at meeting demand.

 

The PS3 launched with online capabilities on day one. The online service is not as nice as Xbox live, but it sure is cheaper (free!). I prefer Live over the Playstation Network, but both are miles ahead of Nintendo. (Three and a half months after the launch and still no online games???? Wii Sports or Excite Truck would be ideal games to play online.)

 

The games available on the Playstation Store are ok. My biggest complaint would be that the PS1 games for PSP can only be played on the PSP. They should also be playable on the PS3. It seems they are following the Xbox Live model of offering a mix of original titles and some classic games. I have a few classic games on Xbox Live, but the majority of my purchases have been original titles. Every game available should have a demo version to try before you buy though.

 

Does the PS3 have room for improvement? Absolutely. For the most part I am happy with my PS3 thusfar.

As far as launch's go, the PS3 isn't too bad. A lot better than the N64 launching with only 2 games or the Saturn's benchmark of horrible. But knocking Nintendo for not meeting the demand of the Wii is lame. I don't think anyone in the world expected this kind of demand. If the sales figures I've seen are correct, then the Wii has sold 3 times the amount of the PS3. Do you think that Sony could have sold 4 million PS3's by now? I do agree that Nintendo has been pretty poor in in the online gaming department.

[Bilnick]

Maybe Nintendo should have done a progressive launch rather than try launching worldwide within a few weeks. If Wii had not launched in europe yet, do you think we would have shortages in the US? It seems Nintendo underestimated the demand for thier product. Who else but Nintendo is to blame?

[MCHufnagel]

Maybe Nintendo should have done a progressive launch rather than try launching worldwide within a few weeks. If Wii had not launched in europe yet, do you think we would have shortages in the US? It seems Nintendo underestimated the demand for thier product. Who else but Nintendo is to blame?

Technically you're right, Nintendo is to blame for not having enough systems to sell. But I'm sure you would say that they are in the same boat as Sony by launching in Europe at a later date than the USA. Nintendo has managed to sell an awful lot of Wii's through out a world-wide launch, and did a better job of it than MS or Sony. Would it have been better for Sony to have shortages in the USA and Japan so they could sell units in Europe or to have product sitting on store shelfs and have nothing in Europe?

[Shannon]

I read some comments on this board where people almost imply that being able to get one is a bad thing. I do not understand that attitude. Having a hot product creates good press for a while, but there is no excuse for short supplies 3-4 months after the launch.

 

You're missing the whole point. It's a bad thing because these products sitting on the shelf are doing just that, sitting on the shelf. While the Wii's fly out the door faster than you can say "nunchuck". Unless you listen to Sony's lies lately. They seem to think that no PS3 sits longer than 5 minutes.

 

It's not a supply issue, it's not a quality software issue (well at least as much as people say). It's a price issue. Especially being that the PS3 was not readily available till AFTER christmas. (no thanks to the ebay hoarders) Some people may be willing to splurge that amount of money around christmas, but afterwards it becomes harder to justify.

[ninjarabbit]

Let's not forget that Microsoft had a rather crappy launch with the 360 and they've recovered nicely. I think Sony will recover if they can get a few killer aps exclusive for the PS3 but I don't see that in the near future.

[Bilnick]

I thought approximately 250,000 PS3 units were sold in January? No doubt the Wii outsold the PS3, but selling 250,000 units is hardly a terrible number. I am almost surprised that Sony didn't try and put a spin that people spent more money on PS3 vs Wii units in January.

 

Wii is not having supply issues? Nearly four months after launch I cannot walk into the local Wal Mart and find one. The Xbox 360 is the only other console I can recall having this problem. Microsoft did not plan well last year and Nintendo screwed up this year. If Nintendo had staggered thier Japan, North American, and European launches by 2-4 months like they (and Sony) have for all thier other consoles they would likely be easy to find. I did not expect to easily find a Wii or PS3 until after the holidays due to the crazy demand new consoles have. I was able to buy a PS3 in January, I still can't find a Wii to buy. Nintendo decided to change the way they released consoles to the public and it has not worked. Demand is still greater than supply, and that shouldn't be the case almost 4 months after a launch. I do not think it is unfair to critisize Nintendo at this point.

[MCHufnagel]

I thought approximately 250,000 PS3 units were sold in January? No doubt the Wii outsold the PS3, but selling 250,000 units is hardly a terrible number. I am almost surprised that Sony didn't try and put a spin that people spent more money on PS3 vs Wii units in January.

 

Wii is not having supply issues? Nearly four months after launch I cannot walk into the local Wal Mart and find one. The Xbox 360 is the only other console I can recall having this problem. Microsoft did not plan well last year and Nintendo screwed up this year. If Nintendo had staggered thier Japan, North American, and European launches by 2-4 months like they (and Sony) have for all thier other consoles they would likely be easy to find. I did not expect to easily find a Wii or PS3 until after the holidays due to the crazy demand new consoles have. I was able to buy a PS3 in January, I still can't find a Wii to buy. Nintendo decided to change the way they released consoles to the public and it has not worked. Demand is still greater than supply, and that shouldn't be the case almost 4 months after a launch. I do not think it is unfair to critisize Nintendo at this point.

I think you're missing the point. Nobody has said that the Wii is not having supply issues. But what I'm saying is that Sony has plenty of PS3's in the USA, while there are none in PAL countries. That seems to me a HUGE supply issue to Europeans. And Sony did screw up pretty badly themselves. Europe was supposed to launch at the same time as Japan and NA.

 

I also like how you changed the discussion from Sony saying that rumble is last gen to how Nintendo screwed up because the Wii has been too successful.

[antron]

Will Immersion Technologies ever get their money from Sony? It's been over a year since the court ruled in their favor and I still don't think they've gotten paid. You've got to love a court system that lets you appeal over and over until you get the judgment you want...

 

JR

Same story as with Bleem. But Immersion has enough money from Nintendo and MS to stay in the fight.

 

 

Immersion has not sued Nintendo, for reasons that are not quite clear.

[antron]

Maybe Nintendo should have done a progressive launch rather than try launching worldwide within a few weeks. If Wii had not launched in europe yet, do you think we would have shortages in the US? It seems Nintendo underestimated the demand for thier product. Who else but Nintendo is to blame?

 

I am guessing that they didn't want to gamble the entire company, so they could only produce so many units at once.

And the late launch was to use the Christmas hysteria to create more buzz.

[Bilnick]

Ok....on the topic of rumble in the PS3 controller.... I think it was a mistake to leave rumble out. I have not opened up my PS3 controller to see if it is crammed with electronics, but it seems a company with the engineering capability Sony has could have figured a way to include both rumble and motion sensors.

 

One thing Sony did do better than thier competitors is have rechargeable batteries built into the controller and include the charging cable. (A simple USB cable)

 

The games I have tried with motion sensing have been ok. Motorstorm demo controls ok with the tilt, but I actually prefer using the control stick to steer. Holding a controller and tilting it isn't a more immersive experience for me. There is another game on the Playstation Network (the name of the game escapes me at the moment) that reminds me a bit of Geometry Wars except that occasionally you need to tilt the screen to move the enemies to one side or the other, or roll the enemies on their back. The same function could have been done with the left and right shoulder buttons. If I had to choose motion sensing or rumble I would probably choose rumble right now. Maybe there will be games in the future that would change my mind.

 

You are right in saying that Sony originally planned a simultaneous worldwide launch. Staggering the launch of consoles by a couple months for each of the three major markets has worked pretty well in the past, and I would bet that Nintendo goes back to a staggered launch for thier next console after the Wii. I am not saying Nintendo screwed up because they were too successful. I am comparing the Wii launch to other console launches. Maybe my memory isn't as good as it used to be, but I was able to find other successful consoles on the store shelves 4 months after launch. Maybe if Nintendo had a launch schedule for the Wii that was similiar to the Gamecube (September Japan release, November NA release, May Euro release) I would not be complaining I cannot buy a Wii.

[Gabriel]

Ok....on the topic of rumble in the PS3 controller.... I think it was a mistake to leave rumble out.

 

I'm not sad to see it go. I'm glad it's gone. Worthless gimmick anyway.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Gabriel

[MCHufnagel]

Will Immersion Technologies ever get their money from Sony? It's been over a year since the court ruled in their favor and I still don't think they've gotten paid. You've got to love a court system that lets you appeal over and over until you get the judgment you want...

 

JR

Same story as with Bleem. But Immersion has enough money from Nintendo and MS to stay in the fight.

 

 

Immersion has not sued Nintendo, for reasons that are not quite clear.

I was under the impression that Nintendo paid Immersion royalities without being sued.