Post E3 2010: Kazuo Hirai interview
Sony Entertainment's President and Group CEO, Kazuo Hirai looks very relaxed as he settles in for our interview in a hotel room at LA's JW Marriott downtown. And well he should; at Sony's keynote press briefing at E3, the developer redrew the battlelines in the war for dominance in the video games industry, unveiling both the PS Move casual interface and the 3D capabilities of the PS3 console. Motion sensor controllers and 3D gaming are the buzz-words at this year's E3 and Sony has all the bases covered. With 36 million consoles sold worldwide, a fantastic line-up readied for this winter and more exclusive content on the way for PS3 users, Sony look well placed to make good on their sales target of 15 million units for the next fiscal quarter. Hirai is optimistic that they'll get there too.
How's your E3 been?
Not too bad. There was the press conference and then this room. I've been to the booth for about thirty minutes. (laughs) So from what I can tell it looks like it's been a good E3! I heard there were huge crowds at the Sony booth and just in general there's a lot of enthusiastic people on the show floor – and that's a good thing!
Let's talk handhelds.
OK, let's.
A lot of handheld devices are using gyro-sensor and depth sensors. Is Sony looking into that sort of technology for the PSP?
I think that PlayStation DNA has always been about stability and not making changes midcourse. So any technology we do bring needs to be forwards and backwards compatible for the same platform. It doesn't matter if it's a gyro-sensor or anything else. It needs to be compatible with all of the platform's forthcoming games as well as its catalogue. If the consumers who have already bought PSPs need new tech to play it which isn't compatible with that platform, you're sending them a bad message. You're saying “if you want to play this great new game you've got to go out and buy a new PSP.”
We tend not to do that, generally. We like to think that we're keeping a very stable platform for the lifespan of the product – we did this with the original PlayStation and the PS2. We intend to do that for the PS3 and PSP as well. There are a lot of interesting and exciting new technology out there, sure, but again, if it means that we end up sending a bad message to our consumers, we tend to try and avoid that.
So console longevity is obviously a core concern for Sony?
Absolutely.
So the only way to adapt to these new technologies would be if Sony could create snap-on peripherals, say?
Oh, actually I think a great example of that is the PS Move. Whether you have the original PS3 from four years ago or whether you bought one last week, it's compatible with PS Move. It's the same thing with the 3D capabilities, too. Regardless of when you bought – or buy – your PS3, it's firmware upgradeable to play 3D games and 3D Blu Ray movies later on this year. That sort of new technology we're bringing in, but any tech that would lead to us having to say “sorry you can't have this” to people who bought PS3 four years ago is a no-go. It's just not a good message to send to our consumers.
It's interesting you mention the PS3's 3D DNA there. Was that a consideration that Sony had dealt with before the console's launch?
Well not just 3D, but the Move and Blu Ray too. Those are things we talked about internally before the launch. We knew that the PS3 needed to have a 10 year life cycle – much like the PlayStation and the PS3. Given how fast technology turns over now, we knew going in that we had to pack a lot of horsepower into the PS3. Four years ago – when you look at the console's power and it's retail price – a lot of people were critical with the fact that there was so much packed under the hood.
Now we're especially pleased to be introducing things like Move and 3D gaming because we're able to show tangibly why we released the PS3 with the power it has, and why it makes so much sense to future proof a console. The proposition we're offering customers is to reward their investment with a long and valuable piece of hardware.
There have obviously been popular – and thus, highly lucrative – trends that have taken hold in gaming over the last six years, such as motion-sensor controls and the arrival of 3D television. How much influence to these developments exert on the directions in gaming interface and presentation Sony has taken recently?
Well, both 3D gaming and the PS Move were things we discussed many many years ago. Two things come into play with every technology that we bring to the table. First, we want to make it as affordable as possible. Second we want to make sure that there's a robust library for the console and the interface. We also we want to make sure the technologies that we offer are a complete package from day one. We don't want to be in a position where we're having to come out with something like 'PlayStation Move Plus' two years from now. We may take more time introducing these new technologies but that's because we want to make sure we get it right the first time. We don't want to be first into the market if we're faced with a situation where we have to make too many improvements down the line.
t's the same thing with 3D gaming – offering that experience without glasses would be great for the PS3. But the situation we're in today, glasses and a monitor is the optimum set up. Future technology may produce monitors which allow people to enjoy 3D entertainment without glasses but right now it's not a very good user experience.
Affordability is a very important point too. In the States, the PS Move is around $49. That's affordable and it's in line with our strategy to make sure the PS Move becomes the second de facto controller for the PS3, next to the Dual Shock 3, and not one of these "nice-to-haves" which you'll only use with a couple of games. We want to make it an integral part of the PlayStation 3 experience.
How much is Sony's gaming agenda driven by the hardware that's becoming available, like Sony's 3D TV monitors, for example?
Well 3D is a corporate issue for Sony. We're looking at it from the lense to the living room; you have professional camera equipment, editing equipment for 3D, Bravia TV sets, PS3 and also Sony pictures which will have 3D movies coming to Blu Ray. It's a Sony Group initiative.
Once again, we knew going in with the PS3 that we'd need to be able to do a firmware upgrade for the console – and we can because it has the horsepower. But we need to make sure we're coordinated with the rest of Sony Group. When they're launching a 3D Bravia is when we want to release the 3D firmware upgrade and not before. The technology was always there but the PS3 is always on the cutting edge so it can do a lot of things. But sometimes we also require advancements from other areas – for example 3D monitor technology and also content creation technology – before we can release those firmware upgrades. Unless you've got the content which can be enjoyed on a monitor, it doesn't make too much sense. It's really down to making sure we're moving in a coordinated fashion with things like 3D where, again, we're dependent on other areas of Sony or other developments in the consumer electronics arena.
Move is a different story where its basically developed in a closed PS3 ecosystem. There, it's just a case of making sure you have stable technology and getting it right the first time so you don't have to make improvements later on. It's also about making sure you have components available in high enough numbers to make sure it's affordable.
The PS3 has traditionally appealed to a hardcore gaming audience. PS Move clearly lends itself more easily to casual gaming. How hard is it to straddle the line between those camps in light of the video games Sony has lined up for the PS Move's launch?
We've always believed that whatever it is we're doing, it's something that appeals to our core gaming audience first and foremost. Then, depending where we are in the life cycle of the product, how much we need to appeal to the casual and family gaming market varies. When we first launched the PS3 three four ago, the games that were launched along with it were tailored more towards the hard-core gaming audience. Four years into it, we're still not mid-cycle, but given the base growth we've seen – there are upwards of 36 million PS3 consoles sold worldwide right now – we are starting to tap into the casual and light gaming users. But we want to make sure that we have software that appeals those gamers without neglecting the hardcore gaming audience who have always been the real diehard supporters of PS3. That's the balance we struck in our keynote press briefing, I think.
What are Sony's key aims beyond E3 and into the next year?
The most important thing is that we continue to grow on the announcements we made – whether it's 3D or PS Move games. We also want to continue developing a great library of software titles and drive down the path which leads to us getting as much exclusive content for our audience as possible – be it games or content available for PS3 owners. The latter, by the way, is a lot easier to do because PS3 uses a Blu Ray delivery system – there's a lot of capacity left on those discs once the games have been completed. So whether it's additional video, gameplay footage or game elements that are included, we're easily able to that and the cost to the publishers isn't great. The cost to press an additional disc isn't a risk they need to take because all that content can fit on one disc.
Those are the kind of things we're going to be pushing on. I really think those are the base elements that will drive the PS3 because, by the way, we're looking at selling 15 million units this year as opposed to the 13 million we sold last year. When we talked about the 13 million sales target last year a lot of people were sceptical, but in fact we cleared the target. Now we want to up that figure by 2 million and things are looking pretty good so far.
Last question; how much of a relief is it that Gran Turismo 5 is finally coming out?
(Laughs) Couldn't be happier! Especially because Kazunori Yamauchi took a lot of time tweaking the game – as he always does – but the fact that he took the time to make sure the game is 3D compatible is great. He put a lot of effort into it and it obviously shows! If you haven't played it yet, you should – it looks absolutely fantastic!
