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E3: David Reeves Talks PS3

The Euro bundle, the new PSP and the fight to be market leader.

EurogamerWas that humbler approach taken because you think Sony has appeared arrogant in the past?
David Reeves

I think they have. Not deliberately, but at E3 last year and maybe the year before, the presentations they did to a European and a Japanese perspective - yes. To an American perspective - no, because the difference in cultures is you have to go, 'Ra-ra, I'm the best.'

We in Europe, and especially the Japanese, don't necessarily accept that. You have to say, 'We're doing our best, but we're not the best.'

EurogamerSo you'll have missed the Microsoft conference as well... Peter Moore seemed to be saying they're in a tight race with the Wii, while PS3 is lagging behind. What's your perspective on that?
David Reeves

Globally, I can't really comment. I would say that in the UK, Xbox 360 is doing okay. I would say in Continental Europe it's about dead. In Japan it's dead. I think it's doing very well in the US.

Wii is doing very well. Hats off to them; not only have they done well, they've got back in stock. They're marketing the console and the games extremely well. Two years ago the industry was writing them off, but they've come back. We owe a debt to Nintendo for keeping the industry going in the last couple of years; they're the ones who have kept it going.

The new PSP design, smaller and lighter.
EurogamerWould you agree that Sony is no longer the market leader?
David Reeves

I don't think it's to do with market leadership, it's to do with growth. If we are to look back in five years' time, what we have to say is we have to double this industry in five years. It's not necessarily who's the market leader.

I think it will be cyclical. It's the same with Adidas, Converse, Puma and Nike; they all bring out new models, but in the end they have such store presence and so much marketing they have trebled that industry in the last eight years. That's what we have to do.

We've now got to appeal to families and to older people; that's where the growth is going to come, broader franchises. They're not going to be all Killzones, they're not going to be all God of Wars or Metal Gear Solids. They're going to be LittleBigPlanets, Calling All Cars, localised SingStar versions. We're doing a Bollywood version of SingStar; we'll probably do one in Russian as well.

EurogamerMicrosoft placed a big emphasis at this year's E3 on titles that are out this year, whereas yours featured more about titles due out in the longer term future, and Peter Moore said it's about winning this holiday. How are you going to compete?
David Reeves

I honestly don't think that just having the games on Xbox 360 is enough. I know it's nice to focus on one year, but he said the same last year - 'We're going to win the holiday season.' But they didn't; they missed that opportunity.

I don't want to criticise them, but they can't say the same again. PlayStation 3, you will see, will be far and away the winner when you look at it by March '08. They really, really will. It's something that is going to be a slow burner, and suddenly it's like a tsunami; it will just overtake you.

EurogamerWhat will cause that tipping point?
David Reeves

You can't take a scattergun approach of putting all the games out. The Metal Gear Solids and the GT franchises - you don't have to put them out in November and December. You can put them out in January, March, April, whenever you like. A big game will move the platform.

In fact having a window of silence sometimes in those months is very good - that's what we've found. Metal Gear Solid always does well in March.

The Star Wars Battlefront PSP pack. Complete with new game and fancy PSP design with Darth Vader's head on the back.
EurogamerAs you say you've got Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo, and then Microsoft's got the likes of Halo. Then there's this murkiness around titles like GTA IV, where extra content is coming out on 360 - and Microsoft is saying 360 is the only place where you can get the full GTA IV experience. Why didn't you get that content?
David Reeves

It's just a question of money. If Microsoft wants to pay USD 50 million just for that... Then I would say they're quite desperate. But as Jack Tretton said, we're really not in the business any more of buying exclusivity. We're more in the business of developing, from Phil Harrison's area, new IPs. We want to move on.

It's too easy to look at and say, 'We must get the GTA franchise.' By the time you've got it the world's moved on, and they'll be talking about some other game. I've got children who are 11 to 15 years old, and those kids are looking forward and not necessarily looking back.

They're the kids who are going to be buying it - the new franchises, but not necessarily the old ones that we signed up to E3 four or five years ago. They're not going to drive the market in the future; it's going to be the new ones.

EurogamerWhere do you see PlayStation, and the industry in general, in five years' time?
David Reeves

It's going to be a lot more network based, to start with. I have absolutely no doubt about that. That will bring in people who are more PC-oriented, people who are more music-oriented and downloading through iPod.

I think there will be much more focus on shorter games, episodic games, instant gratification; less emphasis on a hard console or a hard laptop. The concept of a console eventually will disappear.

EurogamerAre you still looking at PlayStation 3 as a ten year machine?
David Reeves

Yes, we are. We think with the capacity in the hard drive to update the firmware, that's certainly possible. We're in year eight of PlayStation 2 and I think we can still get to ten years on PlayStation 3.

That doesn't mean to say that something else might come out. I don't think it will be a PlayStation 4; it will be something completely different. But something will come out before we get to ten years on PlayStation 3.

EurogamerSo let's say it's not a physical machine, that physical media goes away - where will that leave retailers?
David Reeves

Retail, as they have in the music industry, will be left with something - but not everything they want... I think eventually they will struggle. Some countries like France are adjusting. Certainly in Japan they are adjusting. Unless UK retailers move in that direction, they are going to struggle.