Jack Tretton makes a bet he can't cover

by Ed Stasick { Feb 9th 2007 at 9:15PM }

Sony's Jack Tretton was possibly drinking during an interview with EGM last month. How else can you explain this zany challenge?

"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it. I can get any retail buyer on the phone with you and get them to verify that there's not a single retail location in America where there's a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale. They've all been sold in a matter of minutes."

This is either due to over-confidence that your console is insanely popular or to the knowledge that you failed at actually delivering any real quantities of the machine to retail at launch. Either way, it's a suckers bet. And Sony is the sucker for even proposing it. Luckily EGM was ready for Jack and had already called 18 stores.... 9 of them had the PS3 in stock.

I wonder if Jack ponied up the cash? Seriously, don't play these "ha ha, you can't even buy my new console!" mindgames with gamers. We're not a very forgiving group.

[Thanks Engadget]

Tags: ps3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andir2.0 @ Feb 9th 2007 9:54PM

Actually, the stores in Eastern Columbus, OH have been out of supply for a long time.

thatpspkid @ Feb 9th 2007 9:58PM

What a retard!!!!! What was he smoking?

Arno @ Feb 9th 2007 10:06PM

I just off the phone with a friend who works at Best Buy and he said they received 12 PS3s (60GB) last week and are down to just eight as of this afternoon when he left.

It's a trick. Jack here wants me to buy one thinking I'm gonna get $1200 for it.

He must have been drinking.

miguelon918 @ Feb 9th 2007 10:08PM

Im a ps3fanboy but hell he must be drunk in that interview :S

Eric @ Feb 9th 2007 10:18PM

I have that issue and just read the article a couple of days ago. It is one of the worst interviews I've read since the N64 days. Seriously, his interview makes all the BS the Japanese sony execs have been spewing over the last few years seem like nothing. Most of their comments, while ill-advised, were at least somewhat grounded in reality. I have no idea what reality he's living in, but it's not the same one as the rest of us. And, gee, there's a LOT he "doesn't seem to recall". WTF? Is he Reagan? It brought back all the negative emotions toward sony that had mostly gone away. They have a decent product. Now if they would just shut the hell up... And hire different advertizing firms...

bmac @ Feb 9th 2007 10:33PM

Can sony just get Jaffe to do all of their talking? Even when he really is drunk he makes more sense and is much more likeable than anyone else we hear from in that company.

SKI @ Feb 9th 2007 11:35PM

Sony needs to start hiring mute executives. Better yet, get a MIME! They will make you laugh and not say anything stupid. Ha ha ha!

Frankie @ Feb 10th 2007 1:06AM

Wii fanboy speaking here but iirc, this interview was done back in early January, when reports of PS3 being in stock was slowly trickling in but not confirmed.

ndoerr @ Feb 10th 2007 1:23AM

There's sort of a context issue here, as Frankie pointed out. The interview was conducted practically after the new year, not the other day. I've had trouble finding a PS3 in stores, but recently a few have been popping up. Over the holiday itself? Yeah, they were pretty much gone. So, speaking from a January 1st perspective, he's -mostly- right. Speaking from a February 10th perspective, he's -mostly- wrong.

Next-Gen-Gamer @ Feb 10th 2007 1:36AM

"So, speaking from a January 1st perspective, he's -mostly- right. Speaking from a February 10th perspective, he's -mostly- wrong."

And everything in-between doesn't count? The fact remains, EGM states that, of the 9 stores that had them, some had upwards of 20 consoles sitting around. They actually called these stores. It wasn't just some rumor they heard from an internet source. That whole "not confirmed" problem is non-existent for people that actually put the effort into calling stores.

If he was right AND EGM didn't call stores, then the question wouldn't have even existed. But they did, it does, and Tretton was wrong.

By the way, in a situation like this, no one is "mostly-right" or "mostly-wrong". One side is wrong, and the other is right. He said ANYWHERE in North America, not "the area in which Nick Doerr lives". If we're going by our specific areas only, then he would've been way off had he chosen my area. ONE store (Best Buy) has 40 PS3 units (31 $600, 9 $500) sitting on store shelves.

I know this is PS3 Fanboy, but how can anyone possibly spin this?

mattwillis4 @ Feb 10th 2007 2:27AM

I work at a Best Buy in San Antonio, TX. All 7 of our stores can't sell our PS3's. Not only that, the Target next door can't, and neither can the EB Games here either.

Roofus @ Feb 10th 2007 2:28AM

It's unfair to compare current PS3 supply and supply over the holidays. There were stores with inventory over the holidays, but it was much more bleak than it is finding one today.

bootsielon @ Feb 10th 2007 4:16AM

The "lack of demand" is seriously exaggerated. Sony has nearly sold 2 million PS3s, even with its high price-tag and very few games, and even when it hasn't launched in Europe. Xbox 360 took till June to *ship* 6 million consoles worldwide. And they had oblivion, GRAW, and no next-gen competitors. Actually PS3 is doing OK, better than Xbox 360 did in an equivalent time-frame (even though Xbox 360 launched worldwide).

PS3's launch in Europe comes in March, and from then on, games will come on a regular basis everywhere. Furthermore, there will be updates that will increase the console's appeal, and the format war is almost over. Once the format war is over (by holiday 2007 probably), I believe demand for PS3 will sky-rocket, especially if you consider that there will be a lot more must-have titles, more variety than PC-like games or games that you can find everywhere: "FPS, Western RPGs, RTS and GTA Clones". Such examples of variety are: MotorStorm, Lair, Warhawk, White Knight Story, Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Heavenly Sword, Eyedentify, Singstar, and perhaps MGS4... not to mention more features with firmware updates.

There have also been a lot of talks and rumors about a price drop, which is innevitable if Sony wants market-share; and of course, they will probably achieve it by saving costs in many parts. PS2 sales will also help Sony to take the hits they've been taking with PS3 sales.

PS3 can last a lot of time, like PS1 did and PS2 will, if Sony knows how to handle it, and it should if consoles are to grow as an industry; the first months (or year/year and a half) will be hard possibly, but after that it can all go well. Microsoft could launch their next console in three years, but that's their problem if they want to keep spending money and alienating user bases for not giving them the support they should have. I don't think Wii will last much either... but they can afford to, since their console is cheap(er) and not meant to last.

Grail3x @ Feb 10th 2007 5:01AM

Its disheartening to see how disconnected Sony execs are from the realities of their business... How are they supposed to make the right decisions for the Playstation brand when they don't even know what is going on?

They really need to get a handle on their business... This is pretty sad...

vizunary @ Feb 10th 2007 5:25AM

this stupid ass, his farking gall, where are my games? I've been playing PS(1) since 3 days after it's conception, but now they are truly pissing me off! And 360 fanboys, eff U, PS will become no 1 worldwide, no question. I work for those MSholes, another monopoly is their goal though none give a sh!t about xbox outside of this country!

Joop @ Feb 10th 2007 8:45AM

There are several gems like that in the interview. Another good one is when EGM asked how he felt about the gameplay of motorstorm not living up to the target renders first put out. Tretton said he felt they were identical.

During an interview for AotS at CES he stated how the PS3 shipped 1 million units, "which had been our goal since day one".

The scary thing is that I think he's had to regurgitate these talking points so much that he's come to believe them.

Jas @ Feb 10th 2007 10:15AM

The PS3 is a under-gamed, overpriced, over-hyped, piece of sh!t and anyone who bought one wading in Sony's hype and now backs up Sony's stupidity and "the coming barrage of must have games" is a bigger moron lemming than the executives that run the damn company.

blk n blu @ Feb 10th 2007 10:58AM

Its because of this kind of arrogance and detatchment from reality that i hope Sony stays in 3rd place this console race. Saying stupid things like this and this( http://www.gamespot.com/news/6151631.html )show me how they could care less about giving the customer(U&I) what we want.

Ted Nemeth @ Feb 10th 2007 11:43AM

@#19, blk n blu;
Wait a minute...you are criticising Sony for arrogance when Peter Moore, without a doubt the most arrogant sob in video game publicity today, is working for Xbox?
Talk about detachment from reality. Check it, both of these guys, Moore and Tretton, are total basterds which is why they have their jobs in the first place. I would'nt trust either of them 5 minutes alone with my 12 year old cousin or the loose change under my sofa.

Freak @ Feb 10th 2007 12:08PM

"13. The "lack of demand" is seriously exaggerated. Sony has nearly sold 2 million PS3s"

That's a neat trick considering that they've only shipped just over a million to date. I think your estimate is the only thing that's a seriously exaggerated here.

Ted Nemeth @ Feb 10th 2007 1:18PM

As of January 16 Sony had shipped one million units to the US and one million to Japan. A month later I think it is more then safe to say Sony has nearly sold 2 million units.
Where are you getting your data freak?#21

Azorean @ Feb 10th 2007 1:59PM

This confirms to me that the people at Sony live in a bubble surrounded by YES people that sit around these morons and tell them that everything is going great and that the PS3 is #1 and that everything Sony touchs turns to gold! If they (Sony) don't come to terms soon about their arrogance they will lose this console war fast.

Stef Geiger @ Feb 10th 2007 2:22PM

I'll preface this by saying that I can see the PS3 may have some issues with demand but how is it that EVERYONE overlooks that fact that a store having ONE OR TWO units is a very good indicator that the product is still scarce? It's as if everyone has decided that a system is only selling well if there aren't ANY units in stores. If stores only have 1 or 2 units in stock, that means they're selling through more than 90% of their inventory. HOW is that not impressive?

Dolla Dolla @ Feb 10th 2007 2:51PM

It's not impressive because some stores have more than 1 or 2 in stock. It's not impressive because Sony's homeland, Japan, isn't eating these things up like hotcakes. It's not impressive because software sales are worse than the PSPs right now. It's not impressive because PS3s in Japan can be had for less than retail, and they still aren't selling great. And it's not impressive because following up the best console in history(PS2) with the PS3 has been a joke, at best.

And Jack Tretton makes me laugh.

chops bc @ Feb 10th 2007 3:57PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQfXyWKQJI

Josh @ Feb 10th 2007 4:41PM

While I'm a very big proponent of the PS3, I was watching a G4 interview with him after the unveiling of the PS3 at E3 in 2005 and he said certain things like "the next generation begins when we [Sony] says it does" and "it [Killzone PS3 video] is real gameplay...I guess we're good at keeping secrets"

j @ Feb 10th 2007 10:33PM

Hahaha! I hope he pays up. I will be a multi-millionaire.

Iridium @ Feb 11th 2007 12:01AM

It was stupid for him to say something like that in an interview. Of course I have met quite a few company execs in my day and to say that corporate executives are cut from the smart side of the cloth is a huge overstatement. Honestly I think you have to be a complete self absorbed moron with a BA in corporate buzz jargon to become an executive today. Earth isn't in the same galaxy as the planet most of these guys live on.

I don't know where a lot of these people are getting their stories of 40 PS3's sitting on the floor at multiple Best Buys. I'm about ready to say that every post on that matter is just a XBOX fanboy trying to spread misinformation. I have never seen more than 8 PS3's on the floor at any time since the beginning of January at any Best Buy or any other retail outlet in NE Ohio and Western PA. I have seen more than 50 360's sitting unsold. Two local Best Buy's said that a lot of the stock was sent back to Microsoft for "reallocation" after the first of the year. I walked into a Best Buy that had two pallets of 360's sitting on the floor the day before and asked, "what happened, did you sell all of those". The employee answered, "no they were shipped back, we sold a couple rows but we need the floorspace back". Microsoft shipped way too many units just to hit the 10 million shipped mark by the end of the year and due to the ammount of floorspace they were taking up stores sent the unsold units back.

Right now the average Best Buy has about 10 360's sitting on the shelf or more. Today there wasn't a single Best Buy that had more than 3 PS3's. Three Circuit City's in the area were out of stock and the Gamestop I bought mine from only had the one I bought last week. Maybe the NE isn't indicative of the Southwest but up here PS3's are moving pretty quick and getting replaced by fresh inventory.

The PS3 is selling well and has no widespread reports of early problems. To the average consumer this has helped the image of the PS3. The average person never even hears about the comments made by Sony execs nor really even cares. A whole lot of people know about the widespread problems of the 360 and the rumors of a much better revised version coming out later this year, perhaps with a price drop, is not helping the situation at all.

FTW @ Feb 11th 2007 11:34AM

"I have never seen more than 8 PS3's on the floor at any time since the beginning of January at any Best Buy or any other retail outlet in NE Ohio and Western PA. I have seen more than 50 360's sitting unsold."

Not 3 months after launch you didn't. This time last year, you'd have been VERY fortunate indeed to find a 360 anywhere much before April.

plufim @ Feb 11th 2007 8:32PM

Sure the interview was done in January, but: so was EGM calling the stores and proving him wrong done in January. He was wrong them, he's just more wrong now.

And surely he'd have known that EGM wouldn't be printed for anoher month, his 5 minute claim was always going to be compared to the situation as of print of the magazine.