Sony: We'll never "outspend" Microsoft

By Robert Purchese Published 10 September, 2010

But "bullish" about Move/Kinect showdown.

Sony America's Peter Dille has frankly conceded that his company will never "outspend" rival Microsoft.

His comments referred to the upcoming battle between new motion controllers Move and Kinect.

"I don't think we'll ever outspend Microsoft," Dille told the Seattle Times (via CVG). And Dille doesn't believe Sony has to.

"Our perspective has become much more bullish as we get closer to [Move] launch," he said. "We've had a chance to get people playing our system ... The feedback we've gotten has been unanimous and tremendous. It's, 'I see what you mean about this precision thing.' Our pre-orders continually are ramping up with consumers, retailers want to get more product."

Dille explained that retailers should have plenty of stock, and that selling out would be "a high-class problem to have". Of the launch line-up, Dille predicted that Sports Champions will be the best seller because, like Nintendo's Wii Play, it comes bundled with the motion controller (in the US, not Europe - all bundle details can be found on the European PlayStation blog).

The Seattle Times questioned Dille about various other topics, including that of a PlayStation phone. "No new mobile launches this year," answered Dille. Other areas touched on were acquiring more in-house studios - "You can't buy a new studio every week" - and lowering the price of PS3. To the latter, Dille responded: "We're pretty comfortable with $299. Since we announced that last year, we've been challenged to keep the PlayStation [3] in stock."

Sony's PlayStation Move controller launches a week from now on Friday, 17th September.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (64) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 1 year ago

    Got my copy of the new Res5 yesterday, with the obligatory don't punch people in the face while playing video at the start, cant wait for the controllers to arrive now!

  • Goodfella #2 1 year ago

    Let battle commence!

    /Partridge.

  • KayJay #3 1 year ago

    "Dille predicted that Sports Champions will be the best seller because, like Nintendo's Wii Play, it comes bundled with the motion controller."

    Not in the UK though right? I dont remember a controller being bundled...
    /Checks Pre-Order...

  • Geordiemp #4 1 year ago

    Bet they will bundle sport champioons with MOVE if we wait a month or 2....

    Probably just 'important' US market at first....as always...

  • KayJay #5 1 year ago

    hummm.... No mention of a controller being bundled with my Shopto.net order...

    Eurogamer. Please clarify.

  • Skooch #6 1 year ago

    Interesting he is shaping the contest to be about money. It has been widely reported that the Xbox division is required to make money and be a solvent business all of it's own, within the wider MS business. I think that inferring success may be linked to MS having more money is a bit of a red herring.

    Anyway, my money is on Kinect - not because of the tech but because of the marketing. It is an easier proposition in my mind to sell controller-free gaming than a more accurate Wii experience, even if it is very good.

  • Miths #7 1 year ago

    @designerheadache

    They aren't in Europe. We're only getting demos on the Starter Pack disc.
    Sports Champions looks too entertaining to miss out on though (they did a very long live demo at IGN recently), so I've pre-ordered it alongside Move Starter Pack and Nav Controller.
    And I should probably get that RE5 Gold Edition as well.

    Edit: Looks like I misread the original article - although it arguably sounds more like the information in the article might be wrong. A Move controller bundled with Sports Champions?!
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 11:15

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #8 1 year ago

    Sports Champions bundle is US only at the moment, as you're pointing out. I'll ask Sony about a European equivalent.

  • KayJay #9 1 year ago

    "We're only getting demos on the Starter Pack disc. "

    The demos will be available on the PSN store at launch.

  • theonlyix #10 1 year ago

    Seriously.... move will be left in stock because we“ve all seen it before. Kinect (if works as advertised) is a brand new experience that will change the world , even a fool can see that.


  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #11 1 year ago

    Don't forget how much cheaper Move is than Kinect, though.
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 11:21

  • InfiniteFury #12 1 year ago

    What are the odds of the 3DS getting out before Christmas do you think?

    That would be a strategic kick in the balls.

  • Spekingur #13 1 year ago

    Bullish sounds so much like bs... just lacking that t-sound in the end ;-p

    In any case, I thought Sony had already outspent MS before this... this... Controller War.

  • Meatblade #14 1 year ago

    3ds

    Everything else = yawn.

  • stuarty_2003 #15 1 year ago

    How much was the R&D spend on cell?

  • Mkwone #16 1 year ago

    Quite frankly you shouldn't have to spend big if you've got Kevin Butler doing the adverts. It's one of the best, if not best campaigns i've seen. Its a shame we dont get them over here on telly.

  • HermitArcader #17 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Mkwone #18 1 year ago

    You've got to keep the same bloke, if you tried to have a british version it wouldn't work.

    Just bring him over here for a fact finding mission and call him VP of international affiars of something.

  • woodnotes #19 1 year ago

    Nintendo outspends both Sony and Microsoft combined when it comes to marketing.

  • HenryFitz #20 1 year ago

    Plucky little Sony with their motion control sling-shot against Microsoft's marketing Goliath.

    /sarcastic biblical references

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #21 1 year ago

    I think on the whole they could just use the kevin butler ads in the uk at least, only a few that are very American specific

  • Doctor_What #22 1 year ago

    When's Time Crisis hitting Europe? That's all the information I need to know right now. I want to kneecap terrorists again!

  • woodnotes #23 1 year ago

    Move vs Kinect success will be difficult to measure.

    Hardware wise, you may buy two or more Move controllers for the multiplayer games. So this doesn't mean a customer for every controller sold, vs Kinect where you would only ever buy the single unit.

    Software wise, many of the games that support Move like SOCOM etc, work with a standard controller, so it'll be difficult to judge how much people are buying it to play with Move. Kinect games on the other hand, the games are built specifically for it, so they won't sell unless someone has Kinect.

    We'll know if either is a success or failure but it'll be difficult to compare the two. However, it'll be much easier for Sony to fluff up the numbers whereas Microsoft will have absolutely no room for damage control.

    EDIT: I suppose there's always Sports Champions vs Kinect Adventures as an indicator given they're both bundled in the US.
    Edited by 2 at 10/09/10 @ 11:52

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #24 1 year ago

    <a type="ext" href="http://blog.eu.play station.com/2010/09/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pla ystation-move/">The European PlayStation blog has everything yo need to know about Move and the bundles available here</a>.

  • NorUraeus #25 1 year ago

    I think Microsoft has managed to build up enough pre-launch hype to do a stellar launch, after launch though I think Kinect will quickly go stale as people realize that the type of gameplay you are limited to with only your arms and legs being tracked is not that interesting, and as for voice control, its been hyped for PC for a loooooooong time and it never caught on, simply because you quickly realize that talking to your computer is actually irritating and a hassle. Surprises me that some people still think voice control will be big, when it didn't really seem to do much for the sales of Endwar.

  • kangarootoo #26 1 year ago

    "Kinect (if works as advertised) is a brand new experience that will change the world ,a fool can see that."

    Fixed ;)

  • ZizouFC #27 1 year ago

    I think Move will sell better than Kinect, and not just because of the price difference. Move has a certain je ne sais quoi.

    Like many of you im sure - I have the option to buy either but not both because of the costs involved, and even though Kinect is technologically more impressive, Move is more appealing to me.

  • Peew971 #28 1 year ago

    "We'll never outspend Microsoft"

    Somewhere Gabe Newell is laughing.

  • alcides #29 1 year ago

    I stopped reading halfway through. PR praising company product. EG Fails.

  • JahB #30 1 year ago

    Somewhere Gabe Newell is laughing.

    Yeah, right next to Hideo Kojima. Both of them laughing all the way to the bank.

  • Golgo #31 1 year ago

    Is Move better than Wii Plus? I mean, to the degree that you can actually feel it when playing rather than having to get a computer to measure picoseconds of lag, etc.? Someone please enlighten me.

  • killyourtv #32 1 year ago

    NO U

  • KayJay #33 1 year ago

    @Golgo - Go read some of the extensive reviews and hands-on on this very site...

    Jesus.
    Edited by 2 at 10/09/10 @ 12:41

  • AidyD #34 1 year ago

    'If they did have a Kevin Butler type figure in this country, who would Sony use? I'm going with Stephen Fry.'

    But Stephen Fry isnt an annoying slack jawed buffoon?

  • Golgo #35 1 year ago

    @kj66246: If I wanted to read extensive reviews I would do so. Just thought someone might be kind enough to save me the trouble with a simple 'yes' or 'no'. Clearly not you, muppet.

  • Gromit #36 1 year ago

    "Seriously.... move will be left in stock because we“ve all seen it before. Kinect (if works as advertised) is a brand new experience that will change the world , even a fool can see that. "

    You mean ONLY a fool can see that?

    Any news on the Move bundle EG?

  • makeamazing #37 1 year ago

    "Kinect (if works as advertised) is a brand new experience that will change the world ,a fool can see that."

    Well depends on what has been advertised ;) I am still reading lots from people online who still think it can do what was shown at E3 2009, and in the UK retail sites like Game are showing those E3 videos (the fake ones) as trailers for what it can do.

    I expect Kinect will definately outsell Move in the run up to Xmas (especially in the USA), but i expect that to drop off as people realise the Karate/Scanning a skateboard/family sitting down playing a quiz game with great voice recognition is just all a lie. To prevent that from happening, MS could reduce the price in the new year, or try and get as much new features/improvements into it as quickly as possible, but i think they are concentrating trying to get their release games out and sorting out the voice recognition.

  • Markitron #38 1 year ago

    Whatever happens either side will spin it so that they won. For example MS could say they sold more kinects than move starter packs, then Sony would argue that more wands were sold/more ppl already had a ps eye. They will both declare themselves the winners.

    Personally I already have the eye, as well as heavy rain, Mag and RE5 (and I'm def gettin kz3) so I'm just gonna pick up a wand on day 1. If these new control schemes and the psn move demos impress me I may slowly add to the setup.

    Edit: for those asking about the move bundle, I'm 95% that we don't get sports champion. For £50 we get the camera, a wand and the demo disc. It's $100 in America for the camera, wand and sports champion. The launch games are all £30 I think
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 13:02

  • Osmond #39 1 year ago

    Move is great and everything but i doubt it will have the impact of kinect because sony just arent able to market their products that well or as frequently as the money flush microsoft. Look at all the good ps3 exclusives , which have sold fairly poorly, mostly due to lack of advertising because sonys gaming devision are in the hole.
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 13:28

  • Zephro #40 1 year ago

    Pardon? What were the R&D costs of the Cell, Blu-Ray player in the PS3, the binned Emotive2 graphics chip they couldn't get to work etc?

    They massively over spent on development compared to MS initially hence the original unit price of the PS3.

    Sony also own more in house game studios they spend money on, invest in a portable platform and give away network services for free.

    For some reason I'm not feeling the David vs Goliath narrative from one of the largest electronics electronics companies in the world.

  • HistoryTeller #41 1 year ago

    Anyway, who use voice control on their mobile phone? Its a hassel.
    Having all systems, I'm getting Move.

  • Edz72 #42 1 year ago

    Just this second I was in GAME where I witnessed the salesman sell a Kinect preorder by vitue of bullying the customers (Woman/Mum) into a pre-order when she was only there to collect her son's game. Even though she repeatedly said she would have to check with her husband the salesman wouldn't let her go until she had pre-ordered...
    Then I went up to the counter regarding the release games for the Move and he didn't even ask me about pre-ordering the starter pack?

    I can only assume they get some form of commision on the Kinext pre-orders???

  • rare_uk #43 1 year ago

    @Osmond
    wow how things have changed. Do you remember the fantastic marketing campigns Sony used to have - that girl witrh a wierd face, going to clubs like MOS and having PS booths out etc. It pretty much killed the DC in my eyes, with the marketing alone.

    How things have changed....maybe it's paid too much for that ad they have during the football - Champions League I think
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 13:20

  • Osmond #44 1 year ago

    "They surely do outspend MS on development.. they own stacks of studios and it works well for them."



    For us gamers who get to play sonys stellar exclusive line-up yes, but for sonys bottom line, no as most of their first party titles have been massive sales disappointments. Everything from killzone2 to LBP to GT5 will have left sony in the red. I think microsoft have it right focussing on 3rd party titles, from a profit perspective.

  • ruslan74 #45 1 year ago

    Wife will certainly pick up the Kinetic bundle seeing it could keep the kids happy without worrying about batteries and controllers flying towards the TV. Like many others mentioned its basically casual vs core gamers. Move IMO is too much of a Wii gimmick and Sony are simply jumping on the Wii bandwagon to scoop up sales seeing HD games cannot be @ the 1080p promised.

    I dont find the idea of replaying games I have completed with a wand, I want a new gaming experience and not a rehashed release with motion control. KZ3 might be worth a shot when its out.

    My other worry is how will the online portion be affected if you pair wand vs controller play? Will it incur an advantage? Or not?

  • drxym #46 1 year ago

    theonlyix Kinect (if works as advertised) is a brand new experience that will change the world , even a fool can see that.

    If it works as advertised Kinect will be a unique experience, great for party games & fitness titles and a horribly limited for anything else. If it doesn't work as advertised then it will suck rocks even for games that should be its forte.

    As advertised is also a nebulous term. Microsoft has promised the moon at one time or another for Kinect (e.g. it will have hardware assisted DSP, face recognition, mood recognition, natural speech recognition, recognition of objects & drawings etc.) and all of those things have disappeared, been dialled back or put on hold.

  • KayJay #47 1 year ago

    @Golgo - The time its taken you to write the rather insightful post you could have read one of the reviews.

    Anyhow, All hands on so far have indicated that the move is probably what the WiiMotes should have been. 1:1 mapping and 3d depth recognition etc...
    One thing that could be said to be a little dissapointing is the Launch Party games (5/10 average I think) not much depth to them (although, Ellie did say the tech works and works well - The ability to, for instance, put real-proper spin on a ball. that feels like you have total control)) but we can fall back on things like R.U.S.E., MAG, Resident Evil 5 as games that should tide us over until the Dev's get the hang of it and we get some really good implementation of the tech.

    Sorry for the tone in the previous post, But there is a whole website full of info here. get some knowledge. You are clearly kinda interested. Find out for yourself. ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 13:44

  • sneetch #48 1 year ago

    @ruslan74
    My other worry is how will the online portion be affected if you pair wand vs controller play? Will it incur an advantage? Or not?

    That would depend on the individual, I'd guess. For shooters, well, some people can adjust their aim quicker with a pointer (the Wii remote, for instance, haven't used Move yet) but they do wobble which can be a problem at any kind of range, controllers (and mice) provide much more precise and consistent aiming if you can use them effectively.

    I know that in Mario Kart Wii the controller users beat steering wheel users in every game I played online (using a controller I knocked about 10 seconds off my lap times on some of the longer courses) just far more precise.

  • rare_uk #49 1 year ago

    @ruslan74
    My other worry is how will the online portion be affected if you pair wand vs controller play? Will it incur an advantage? Or not?

    I'm sure there was a Killzone 3 video for Move where they were still trying to work out whether to seperate players depending on their controller setup when online
    Found it, pretty much confirms the above in the first minute
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 14:12

  • M_of_the_sys #50 1 year ago

    Donnie has toned down somewhat.

  • ronuds #51 1 year ago

    Sony is always trumpeting how MS spends more than them. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Shirley we could care less who spends more, as long as the end result is an awesome product?

    In fact, wouldn't spending more actually be a good thing for us customers? I don't know, call me crazy I guess.
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 14:58

  • RexRunti #52 1 year ago

    Don't forget how much cheaper Move is than Kinect, though

    For you, me and anyone else who already owns both consoles yes (or maybe if you throw in the multiplayer question), but for people who have yet to buy a console (like the casual audience both companies are aiming for) the 360 and Kinect bundle is cheaper.

  • KayJay #53 1 year ago

    No its not.

    Edit: @RexRunti
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/10 @ 15:55

  • drumbaby #54 1 year ago

    They didn't drop a billion or so dollars on an emergency extended warranty policy for every customer, that's for sure.

  • des #55 1 year ago

    Sony has "outspend" MS by a lot this gen...like 2x RROD costs,everything on that financial disaster called PS3...all that with profitable PS2 and PSP.

  • davisorle #56 1 year ago

    @Bertie "Don't forget how much cheaper Move is than Kinect, though. "

    Can you do the math for me and tell me.. Not on 4player but even on 2 player in single console lets just say.How much it costs for Kinect and how much it costs for eyetoy+2Move+2move/controllers ( sorry cant remember the name of the secondary piece for the move that you have to buy seperately :S )

    Personally I'll most likely end up getting both Kinect and Move for my consoles. My opinion? Kinect has potential to offer new things, new interactions. Imagine my 360 with a Heavy Rain kind of game and Kinect? Million times better than it could be with Move if you ask me. Not a better example is there? Anyone saying im wrong on that particular example is fooling himself obviously.

    Ill delay getting Move though cause the only console i dont own till now is a Wii and that is cause i am not interested in a WiiMote. Move, yeah its very precise ( from the looks of it so far cause i havent used it ) but doesnt stop from being an improved remake of WiiMotes. So since Sony got the point at least and knows to keep promoting for core gamers to increase the enthusiasm about the Move im hoping for enough support on core games sooner than later. So I know that will end up more than usefull too. All that kinect vs move is bunch of bullshit for extra comments on websides ( this one included ) and a bad choice from Sony to play offensive against Kinect from my point of view. Knowing that PSN(XBL)/trophies(achievements) and now Move(Wiimote) were plain followups from other companies' ballsy moves and ideas, makes it look too sad to still have the nerve to be acting that way in this gen at least..

    Anyhow. Im hoping to enjoy too much both kinect and Move soon :) Cheers all.

  • RexRunti #57 1 year ago

    @kj66246

    An Xbox 360 + Kinect is £250 rrp. I can't actually find any official PS3 move bundles, put the cheapest PS3 has an rrp of £250 so I will stand by statement that an XBox 360 + Kinect is cheaper than a PS3 + Move unless someone is available to provide a link to prove me wrong.

  • alan_stealth #58 1 year ago

    whatever sony.
    fuck you.
    and the horse you rode in on.
    SEGA LIVES.

  • Avatargr #59 1 year ago

    @davisorle "Imagine my 360 with a Heavy Rain kind of game and Kinect? Million times better than it could be with Move if you ask me."

    So how are you going to move your character around? Will everything be on-rails?

  • Golgo #60 1 year ago

    @kj66246 - thankyou for info, that was enormously helpful, informative and to the point. apologies also for my own rudeness.

  • Machiavellian #61 1 year ago

    They didn't drop a billion or so dollars on an emergency extended warranty policy for every customer, that's for sure.

    Yeah, maybe they didn't but to infer that the PS3 doesn't have its issue also isn't the way to go. I have two PS3 and each have broken down. My 60gb has experienced the YLOD and my 80gb had some problem with the HDD controller and needed to be sent back. Lets just leave the hardware issues out of the equation and keep the topic on Move/Kinect performance

  • aphex187 #62 1 year ago

    If people are rooting more for Kinect than Move then they shouldn't be playing games simple....

  • mrboshingles #63 1 year ago

    @ Goodfella - The boys are back in the barracks

  • Loghorn #64 1 year ago

    Meh, they'll both fade into obscurity should Nintendo lowers the price tag of the Wii down to $150 this holiday season & bundles it with a core game or two (I think that's 97 pounds for UK, & 118 Euros for Europe; correct me if I'm wrong there). Not to say that I'm defending motion control gaming, because frankly, I would rather play a regular controller for gaming, but the reality is that most people are going to go for the ones which has a lower price tag.