Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves has announced his retirement, but contrary to speculation, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Sony or its products. In fact, although he still believes the PlayStation 3 has a ways to go before it can overtake the competition, he still thinks it'll be the dominant console in 3-5 years time.
According to a recent interview Reeves gave to GamesIndustry.biz , Reeves said one can compare the current console race to the ol' tortoise-and-hare story and in the end, it'll be close to a "dead heat." The future is bright for the PS3, he added, when he said he examined the future lineup of new software and products, and he's "very, very optimistic" that the PlayStation brand will continue to grow and run strong. It's his last day as SCEE president and he's proud of taking SCE "through the harder years," managing to keep PlayStation a "prominent brand in all territories, both for PlayStation 2, PSP and PlayStation 3." As for Andrew House, who will be assuming Reeves' position, Reeves says he doesn't really have any advice for him, but he labels House "a very seasoned and professional person," so hopefully, the gamers in Europe can expect good things from the new man in charge. Lastly, Reeves quickly dismissed the rumor that he was off to join Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds; he says he might one day return to the industry, but he has no such plans at this time.
"I'm actually retiring and my ambition is over the next couple of months is to get some rest because it's been a very tough year. And then I'm just going to try and do some things that I've always wanted to do in the past. Some of those might be in the games industry, but what I'm saying is I'll try and do several things. I honestly don't have any concrete plans, I'm not going anywhere. You won't see me on May 1 with a new company."
Therefore, this is probably the last interview you'll see with Reeves when he's in an executive position in this industry. If he does return one day, there's no knowing where he might pop up but for now, it's clear he just wants to relax. Well, we say it's well deserved.
I believe Japan is the prime indicator of what is to come. The PS3 is dominating the 360 there, and has strung together an impressive run of beating out the Wii.
In America, price is king. Yet, the PS3 still sold 200,000 units last month as compared to the 360's 300,000 sold at over twice the price. Heck, several of my 360 exclusive friends have bought a PS3 and now use it as their primary console.
It's obvious what the PS3 is capable of and Microsoft and Nintendo should be worried.
It was tough for Reeves, I hope expected 2009 price cut will make the new guy's life easier. Since they announced the pricecut in 2007, they've been saying the production cost was $450. I don't believe that 2 years is not enough time to lower the production cost to $299. That smaller chip should be ready along with PS3 Slim this summer…. just watch! muhahaha
Too bad Reeves isn't in Sony to see the PS3 kick @$$ this year!
Lets be real honest here ! American gaming consoles historically have not done well in Japan. The Sega and Nintendo machines of the mid 1980s and early 1990s dominated any game console Atari or other American game companies had out.
Who knows what the game scene would look like had Atari had an owner with a vision and drive instead of one of dollar signs !
E3. It will foretell what is to come for both 360 and PS3.
Can't wait.
take that, wii kids!
lol yeah
Eeeh…we can do better than that, can't we?
Yeah… yeah… Now the PS360 numbers will be more than Wii :-p I keed I keed… they already are. I'll really miss this guy though. He was alway entertaining to listen to.
I had no doubts Sony would pull through in the end. Long live the PS3….say a 10 year cycle.
Heck, I still play the PS2 every now and then but only select stellar titles. GOW, GT4, Burnout 3 and Black.
I think all three consoles will have a 10 year cycle. Wii is printing money, what's the rush to make a new one? They haven't even cut prices yet. Xbox is outselling PS3, until, they lose in sales, there's no reason to bring out the new box, possibly in 3-5 years.
I think the PS3 will take over in 2-4 years because games are gunna be dropping like bombs all over the competition. I mean we already seen just what a demo of FF can do for the PS3.
I really don't care what the dominant console is now or in five years. Sony and its 1st party studios make the games I want to play. As long a they continue to do that, and judging from their 2009/2010 line-up, they will, being dominant is irrelevant and may even be detrimental. Let me explain, Wii is the highest selling console of this generation and I suppose the games they make appeal to the broadest demographic; kids families, oldsters, but not us 'hardcore' gamers. There is hardly anything on the Wii I want to play, whereas PS3 has 5 or 10 titles coming out in the next year or so that to me are must-haves. So as long as Sony continues to make killer games, that should be all that matters to us real gamers.
Made good sense.
Kudos.
Well the way it's been going, I do not believe it. Both the 360 and Wii are outselling the PS3 worldwide. And we've had quality exclusives and multi-platforms to grace the PS3 with the typcial worldwide 3rd place result. Is there anything we already know that will support hReeves' assessment? Why should we believe him?
Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3 have joined the 100m club. The latest round of machines from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony has combined to sell over 100m units as of the week ending March 28, 2009. Rounded to the nearest million, there are 49m Wiis, 30m Xbox 360s, and 22m PS3s in homes worldwide. Notice that the PS3 will have to sell 27m more units just to catch the Wii, and 8m units just to catch the Xbox 360. That is 35m units to just catch up and that is if the Wii and the Xbox 360 do not sell anymore units which they will be of course. It may eventually happen but it will take the price drop and a massive advertising campaign by Sony, so don't hold your breath.
I think you mean 35m to EQUAL the units sold by BOTH M$ and Nintendo. To "catch up" its 8m to catch M$ and 23m to catch Nintendo. and what did the gap use to be between Sony and M$? I think of it this way, in 3 years the 360 has sold 30m which means it averages out to ten million a year ( im not saying actaul sales numbers just units sold over the unit of time the product has been available.) and the ps3 in 2 years has sold 22m which averages out to 11m a year. to me the Ps3 is indeed outselling the 360. More units in less time. By these numbers the ps3 should have 33m next year and the 360 at 40m whcih is 7 then6 then 5 then 4 and so on. But thats just my math brain talking, the steller line-up this year could make the gap like 4m by this year who knows.
Last edited by EddPm6 on 4/30/2009 7:04:06 PM
I'd go as early as 2 years if we're talking about passing 360. It's just got no games, haha.
Anyway this dude Reeves will have his rest, hang with his family, get a little fatter, then one day he'll wake up and the gaming bug will grab ahold of him and he will resurface somewhere. Until then, rest up Mr. Reeves cuz you're gonna need it.
Yeah!
Real gaming is *forever*
=D
@Jordahn
You forgot one thing though, this is what everybody is waiting for…..Price drop!
Once that happens………….fogetaboutit!!!
Oh, I think a price drop will easily send PS3 sales way past the 360 at the very least. But give me a valid reason to think one will happen given the PS3's past sales history. Either SONY introduces a cheaper but stripped down model or they offer a "bigger" model at a higher price. Who is Reeve's audience here: the general consumer populace or a crowd of SONY/PS3 fanboys that will believe everything SONY says? I'm not saying a cheaper priced PS3 will not happen. But what I'm saying is give me something credible to go by that allows me to believe the SONY PR.
Sony cant do a price drop there still losing money on tha ps3 everytime one is sold…i think by end of this year early next year i think tha ps3 will be king!! i mean what other consoles have games that can match GOW3? Uncharted 2?..Even Infamous…and MAG im not sure if other consoles can do 256 players…and titles ps3 has already like Killzone and MSG4.
Your omission of GT5 insults me to my core. I challenge you to a drift competition on the Eiger Nordwand, good sir~
I still think it's only a matter of time before SONY releases an emulator download or something of that sort for current PS3 systems so that backwards compatibility isn't an issue. Add this in to a price drop and you're on your way to win a 3rd console war 😛
I dont think that's a conclusion we shouldn't be coming to right now. I am positive MS will launch a new XBOX system in the aformentioned years. The Xbox 360 HAS died, but it doesn't mean the ps3 will dominate it's competition in about 3-5 years time, or the rest of it's lifespan; even though it's doing that now.
their downfall is the price
who's downfall are you referring to?
no need 2 thumb down FFS! I was asking a GD question… i didn't know… still don't actually…
would the A$$ hole who thumb downed me please care to explain??
I think the PS3 is already dominant when you look at the games it has and the games that are coming out. Xbox and Wii are already maxed out.
Ben how come you didn't mention the Best Buy sale on games for $10 this week?
Tru but we have to think…will tha PS3 be able 2 stand up 2 the new XBOX? we all kno MS are gonna release it within 2years but wil ps3 b able 2 stand up to it?…i think it could do but…MS i gonna b looking 2 beat tha PS3.
Holographic Disks are rumored to be the new xbox's storage medium, and with a max storage cap of 1-3 TB, it gives bluray a run for its money.. now what would i rather?? A reliable last gen console, or a nextgen console that could potentially mirror the unreliability of its last gen counterpart??
to me, i'd take what's most reliable…
and if the system actually performs better than the 360 (NO RROD), i may actually by 1, or even 2… but if it is as bad or worse (we're talking bout micro$oft here… vista, 360, even zunes! all prime examples of its failware) than the 360, i'll play my playstation 3 while I wait for the PS4..
Last edited by Gregory Freeman on 5/1/2009 6:25:37 PM
"Once more the Sith will rule the galaxie!"
Or could this be more like the return of the jedi?
Forget Star Wars. This is more like "The Return of The King"! (Lord of the Rings)
The only glaring mistake Sony made with the PS3 was the price point. Unfortunately, the PS3 debuted at a time when our economy was on the brink of a recession and that didn't bode well for any company introducing high end electronic products to the market.
Sony would have bee served better had they waited on introducing blu ray because it wasn't at a price point that made it feasible economically unlike dvd drives when the PS2 was released.
It seems consoles do well when priced in the $250-$300 price range and once it goes above that mark, consoles tend not to sell to the overall masses.
At launch not many people could afford a $499 or $500 PS3 and if Sony thought people would flock to stores in masses to buy one, they fooled themselves.
Another factor haunting PS3 id the fact that Sony has confused many people with whether or not a particular model is or isn't BC or whether or not you need an HDTV to play PS3 games !
Many people think they have to buy an HDTV to play a PS3 when that simply isn't true but Sony doesn't highlight this point because they want the PS3 to be the center of people's High Def experience whether it's via games or movies !
Sony made tons of mistakes… Price point being the most obvious. Seriously… people really go sick of Sony's attitude towards it's own fans.
Well, Sony would have been dominant if they had not taken away peoples use of SD cards in the system, or 2 of the USB ports. but c'est la vie right? WRONG!! I don't even care that they took out the E-Motion enginr which gave it full backwards compatibility…. not. I'm so glad I got a 60 gb system, and put my own 320gb hdd in it, Im even upgrading to a 500 gb hdd soon. and also Sony has to get off thier asses and raise their standards for games (i mean length, gameplay). they need to start telling game companies to stop being so damn lazy and start coming up with some new ideas instead of back tracking and making the new games seem as if they were made for PS1(im talking about MGS4 here) I was so dissapointed when I got through the game. aside from the amazing graphics the gameplay was lame and the game itself was SO SHORT, and if you have played MGS3 for PS2 youll know what im talking about, with everything there was to do in that game, and also DMC4 was VERY dissapointing so in reguards to what Mr. Reeves is saying, if sony wants to be dominating then start telling your game makers to put some effort into thier games.
P.S. actually so far ALL of the games I have beaten on PS3 the have been dissapointing and TOO DAMN SHORT!!
Last edited by LowKii on 5/6/2009 1:16:01 AM