Sony Computer Entertainment Europe senior vice president Ray Maguire had a lot to say at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival; particularly to Eurogamer (found via
Engadget). The
summarized interview focuses on the introduction of Move.
"Exactly as with EyeToy in the PS2 days, it's a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it."
"Am I expecting a massive day one? Not particularly. We didn't with EyeToy, either. It went on to be massively successful."
"As people saw the value when they tried it they told their friends. Their friends bought it. They told their friends. Word of mouth grew the marketplace. That's what I expect from Move as well."
Overall this is a realistic view on the performance of Move at launch. I was more intrigued by Mr. Maguire's response to questions concerning 3D gaming breaking into the mass market found in the
full interview.
"The truth of it is I don't really know [when 3D will break through to the mass market]. We've been surprised with PS3, which was a highly specced machined. It stood right out there as the most expensive console on the market. Everyone said it wouldn't sell the numbers. But it sold..."
It must be company policy to have guarded answers to forward looking lines of questioning.
Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai
spoke with MCV about all digital distribution for future gaming platforms.
"We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope,”
“There’s always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium."
It seems Sony expects it will take time for the mass market to embrace less traditional forms of videogame interaction and distribution. This guarded progression is smart from a business perspective, certainly. Too bad it means that we'll be waiting a while yet for a a huge leap in hardware.
