Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Tretton: our industry can't keep secrets

Speak for yourself!

Sony of America boss Jack Tretton reckons the games industry is full of people who have trouble keeping secrets.

"People don't respect confidentiality in this industry. It's tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties," Tretton told CNBC (caught by Voodoo Extreme, referring heavily to the PSPgo saga, which saw the handheld leaked the weekend before its planned E3 reveal.

"This is an industry that has trouble focusing on today; we want to constantly talk about tomorrow... You have to prepare for people to know things in advance.

"The frustrating thing is they only know a part of the story and that opens up a lot of conjecture and misinformation that ultimately waters down the reality when you roll it out," he added.

Tretton humorously addressed the PSPgo leak at the top of the Sony E3 presentation, saying he was surprised to see such a turnout given "the industry's ability to keep information confidential".

His boss, Kaz Hirai, was equally self-deprecating, calling the PSPgo the "Worst-Kept Secret of E3". People laughed.

An early version of The Last Guardian trailer was also spilled pre-E3, ruining an otherwise show-stopping reveal. But for all the leaks, Sony's ship managed to produce a motion-sensing controller demonstration few had foreseen.

Rivals Microsoft and Nintendo were not without spoilt surprises, either. Project Natal was all but outed pre-show, and we'd have cried foul had Nintendo not unveiled the long-teased Mario project.