Reeves says Christmas isn't that critical for Sony
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jul 20th 2007 at 7:30PM }
A lot of critics are pressuring Sony for a strong showing of not only hardware sales, but powerful software sales as well this holiday season. They're citing it as a critical moment for Sony -- the make or break, if you will. SCEE president David Reeves sees it a little differently, arguing "I think each peak is crucial to maximise what you can do, but I don't think this Christmas is necessarily the most critical one - I think that's going to be Christmas '08."In addition to these claims, Reeves again associates the PS3 with a tsunami -- a force to be reckoned with, indeed. Along with that, he squashes the European price drop rumors with the explanation of July not being a big month for games or gamers in general, so a price drop now would be annoying to consumers. He may be indirectly implying a holiday price drop, but he may not. Reeves concludes by saying this wonderful tidbit: "We're not putting our heads in the sand - we know it's not selling that well, but we know that it's selling according to the targets." We're glad to hear it and we can't wait to hear what's going to get announced at Leipzig!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jldowning @ Jul 20th 2007 7:45PM
Well to be honest, didn't Sony say all along the PS3 wouldn't start owning the market until the end of 2008?
Makes about sense, by that time Xbox 360 will have issues keeping up with new games, the PS3 will have a huge line up likely bigger then any other system, and should have worked out any online issues. With a 8-10 year future life span of the system, a year of low sales is nothing.
Stellarpimp @ Jul 20th 2007 7:56PM
...basically they are saying they currently don't care about the current marketshare. Allow Microsoft rule the market unchallenged until XBox 720 comes out. So then the PS3 will finally come online too late. Hmm...sounds like a wonderful plan. I'm already not like this Reeves dude. We all know how fast the computer industry evolves, and no one system will be able to be cutting edge for 10 years. You can believe that BS all you want. Yes the Cell is an impressive chip and may hold out well for 10+ years easy. But the Nvidia graphics card and that 512megs of total ram ain't...
GodisaMyth @ Jul 20th 2007 8:36PM
Xbox 720 by 2008? Are you on crack? That would make NO sense at all for Microsoft. They are in this generation for 5 years minimum. They have poured way way way too much money this generation to throw it all away and alienate their hard won fanbase by throwing another system at them.
Use your head dude. Stop talking out of your ass.
As for David Reeves, I think he is right. I would not say it like that. He needs to be more tactfull with his words.
Mythmass 2007 is very important to Sony for the PS3.
Mythmass 2008 is even more important to Sony for the PS3.
Sony needs to have a stellar Mythmass this year to attract more customers AND more developers to spend the time and the money to make a PS3 game worthy of the machine.
Oh by the way, your statement about the PS3 not lasting 10 years is baseless.
The PS2, which came out in Japan in March 3, 2000, is STILL outselling the Xbox 360. Let me say it again, the PS2 is STILL outselling the 360.
The PSone ceased production after an 11 year run. The PS2 will be in production longer I think.
Again, stop talking out of your ass and use your mouth.
It is starting to stink in this blog.
Darkdrium777 @ Jul 20th 2007 8:39PM
Why's this guy doing everything differently than SCEA and SCEI?
Yes this Christmas should be critical to you, because unless release dates are way different in Europe than here, you've got big hitters such as Lair, Heavenly Sword, Little Big Planet and Home among others coming out. If you don't care about these, how do you think the PS3 will fare in Europe in the future?
Negativecool @ Jul 20th 2007 8:55PM
No, what he's saying already is "we don't plan to do well during the holiday gaming rush." Hence when they don't do all that well, they'll come back to this statement, and say "well duh, we didn't think Christmas was important."
And he's covering his ass for when they do do well during the holidays. He's being pessimistic now to lower expectations so when they do do well, they'll forget all about this and compliment PS3's obviously superior hardware/software offerings.
But of course, if that IS in fact what he thinks, then that man should be fired and replaced with a monkey.
SKI @ Jul 20th 2007 9:06PM
"Oh by the way, your statement about the PS3 not lasting 10 years is baseless.
The PS2, which came out in Japan in March 3, 2000, is STILL outselling the Xbox 360. Let me say it again, the PS2 is STILL outselling the 360.
The PSone ceased production after an 11 year run. The PS2 will be in production longer I think.
Again, stop talking out of your ass and use your mouth."
You need to understand that they lasted for 10 years because they were the best selling of their respective generations. If the PS3 doesn't pick up steam, there will be no way for it to have a true 10 year life cycle. You can't judge a console based on the preceding console, it has never worked.
robert weisberg @ Jul 20th 2007 9:11PM
To say that Chrstmas is not important is pure foolishness from some arrogant asswipe. Christmas is critical to every retailer in the world! If you cant move goods during Christmas you are toast. Especially when people have to shell out 600.00 for a game system. Not to mention games etc. I am sure the gae developers are thrilled with Sony for the past two years regarding the PS3.
Rob
Thomas @ Jul 20th 2007 9:29PM
Chrismas is always important... that when you make your money...
Jase @ Jul 20th 2007 11:20PM
Oh shut the hell up.
The other half of the world isn't Christian you know.
sammy @ Jul 21st 2007 12:34AM
As someone noted before he is covering his back...
Sony is trying to claw its way back in the sales race...It has a hell of a mountain to climb.
But I think it is of some note that the PS3 is starting to show signs of what the hardware is capable of and finally showing some exclusive quality games on the horizon. He never actually said it was not important to do well at Christmas he just put forward the notion that the holiday season the following year would be more critical. While I think this is the typical corporate nonsense. I also hold some hope that both machines will be on a more even footing by then...the PS3 has had to do so much to reverse its fortunes this year. Personally it is wise to not focus too much on that time of year and to start filling the dead space we had this year (on all consoles...but especially PS3)... a few strong titles are already gearing up for early 2008.
CJ @ Jul 21st 2007 12:59AM
Christmas sales and such arent important to us here at Sony. Whats that? We're behind in the Next Generation race? Far behind? Oh, thats ok. We arent really racing. We are just going to settle into things. Kind of take our time. Mean while, MS and Nintendo have long passed us by. But hey, its not that important here in Sonyland. We have Japan to save us. We have Killzone 2 to help us whenever that may get released, which wont be Christmas by the way. Because....well we here at Sony dont think Christmas sales are important. Its only the biggest time of the year for sales and all but we dont mind. We have Japanese kids buying are games. They like us. They like are silly little stupid games. Sony rules.
And I was worried about MS losing Peter Moore. HA. The guy replacing Peter cant be half as dumb as this clown. For anyone that is die hard Sony, do yourselves a favor and get this idiot fired. He is not helping your already desperate situation.
kingnick @ Jul 21st 2007 5:34AM
@6.
I completely agree, look at the N64 for proof of this.
I think this Christmas will be dominated by the Wii and 360, the PS3 isn't anywhere close to a mass market price point and the vast majority of people aren't prepared to pay the cost of entry ATM.
Stellarpimp @ Jul 21st 2007 6:06AM
@3 Look dude no need for name calling and insulting. This place is no need for internet tough guys/girls/bitches w/e you are. See me in real life and I'll fuck your world up. I'm a 30 year old male that has been gaming for 25 years and own all the major systems released during that time. Now back to the topic at hand.
What I was trying to convey here is...PS3 won't be cutting edge in ten years from now. They are making it sound as though it will the best system known to man in 2016. Not even. If they don't get systems sold and sold soon all PS3 will be getting is crap ports from the 360. Developers develop games for the system with the most user base. Games cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to produce. Do you think they would like to lose money on every game sold? Hell no. So if Mr. Reeves thinks for one instant that Christmas season (in #9's case December) isn't important think again. More money is spent in that month than any other month of the year. You want those systems/games moved. Marketshare determines sucess for any console period. If you don't think so look at Sega Master System, Turbo Graphx 16, Neo Geo, Dreamcast, 3DO, Atari Jaguar etc. All great systems...but didn't make the masses so they failed.
Next part of your reply. PS1 and PS2 lasted 11 years and PS2 7+ years... Great. Know why? They owned a huge part of the marketshare. PS2 will last for many years to come...why? Best selling system of all time. You can place the worst game ever on a PS2 and the developer will make their money back and then some. Currently Xbox (even though faulty) has more than 3 times the amount of base users. If you were the developer where would you place your resources at? If you were a smart developer you'd say Xbox due to your chances of getting your money back with a profit.
Now for the last part of your reply...Xbox 720 coming out in 2008. I never once said that. What I was trying to say was if Mr. Reeves doesn't think now is important he is sadly mistaking. Usually 3 to 4 years into a system's life span there are already talks of the next system in the works...rumors of power, specs, etc. If Sony thinks for one minute Microsoft is going on Sony's 10 year plan they must be smokin' the good stuff. Now back to waiting for 2008... If Sony stays at this 1/3 of MS' consoles sold, Sony won't have a chance in hell. Developers would jump ship. Let's say Sony does start picking up steam in 2008-9. They will have a lot of ground to close. Xbox 720 would be out 2010-12. Think it won't be more powerful than the current PS3? Nuff said.
As for Mr. Reeves, those people that were on the fence about purchasing a PS3 may have just made their decision to hold off even longer and wait till holiday season '08. Not everyone is a hardcore Sony fan like myself. The average gamer won't just buy a system just because. They want a system that will entertain them. With a company head saying this year isn't important, you just said no point in buy this year. Hope we get your business a year from now.
Let the system sell itself and CEOs be quiet for once.
Jay @ Jul 21st 2007 6:11AM
Look, no doubt this has been said a thousand times and repeated daily. Sony should take note:
I am NOT going to buy a PS3 until the first price cut - say, to £350.
I do have a Sony Bravia TV, DVD Recorder, VCR, PSP, PS2, Viao laptop, Cybershot, Net-MD, Hi-Fi, Walkman phone, DVD Handycam and cordless headphones - none of which I paid full or original RRP for.
Jay @ Jul 21st 2007 6:15AM
#6
Yes the PS2 was the best selling of its generation. But you forget that its initial sales were extremely disapointing - for Sony and the analysts, was criticised by the gaming media, and required heavy selling by Sony to get it going properly.
Sound familiar? Or are you yet another person with a selective memory in this area?
OSX @ Jul 21st 2007 7:26AM
@#3:
'Mythmass'? That's the single dumbest thing I've read on this web page! Wether you're Christian or not. Christmas is a CHRISTIAN Holiday. Therefore, it's called 'CHRISTmas'.
So you don't believe in God, eh? So where did the physical universe come from, sparky? Where did all matter come from? Itself? Give me a break!
GL @ Jul 21st 2007 7:44AM
Stellarpimp,
You might be 30 years old. You sound like a lot of 15 year old xbot gamers. You jump to conclusions way too easily.
The PS3 will have a 10 year lifespan from a production standpoint. The gamer's lifespan will be around 5-6 years. We know that. It is YOU and your xbot brethren that misinterpret the Sony "10 year" message. Don't blame us.
Each quarter Sony gets stronger and stronger if you haven't noticed. So, why would you keep saying things like "Sony better get their act together or we'll keep getting crappy ports and and Sony will be in trouble, etc, etc,...?"
THEY ARE GETTING THEIR ACT TOGETHER! All David Reeves is saying is that Sony will build their brand again and the PS3 will be stronger and stronger. Just open your eyes and you will see. If you look at it in context you will notice that your "doom and gloom" statements have no merit.
sammy @ Jul 21st 2007 7:53AM
Where did theology come into this... I am a devout agnostic... I don't know where mass and matter came from...but I am not going to believe in an entity just to fill this void in my ignorance.
Just because I don't know does not lead me to believe an omnipresent being that apparently looked vaguely like us is the great creator.
Christmas is also based on a pagan festival as much as Easter is a fertility festival. Where do all the eggs and rabbits come into the crucifixion?
The argument here though is that Christmas is a big sales period. This cannot be disputed. Especially in the huge gaming market of the US.
GL @ Jul 21st 2007 7:59AM
And I wish PS3-haters would stop bringing up the only reason the PSone and PS2 won was because they were FIRST to market. They were NOT!
Sony has always put out consoles that were BOTH: FIRST and LAST to market. YET, THEY WON! Nintendo and Sega were all first to market over Sony. But it doesn't matter if you are first to market unless you can hold the lead (see SNES, N64, Dreamcast). Sony has also been first to market over the Microsoft Xbox (and Nintendo GameCube). And we all know what happened there. M$ and Nintendo lost. This time M$ is first to market with their 360 and the Wii has a lead. Sony has been in this situation before remember? So first or last to market...it doesn't matter with Sony! They will keep pushing and pushing until they win...again!
Do you think that hundreds of PlayStation fans around the world want Microsoft to win? Think again. That's like rooting for the evil Empire.
Stellarpimp @ Jul 21st 2007 8:50AM
For the record...I don't own a Xbox OR a Xbox 360. The PS3 is hooked up downstairs to my Sony XBR3. Online name Guwapo77. Xbox fan I am not. I know all about a game consoles life span. That is EXACTLY what I was saying pumpkin. That is EXACTLY why I stated what I did.
GodisaMyth @ Jul 21st 2007 12:32PM
"'Mythmass'? That's the single dumbest thing I've read on this web page! Whether you're Christian or not. Christmas is a CHRISTIAN Holiday. Therefore, it's called 'CHRISTmas'."
Uh, no. The 25th of December is NOT solely a Xian holiday. In fact, it is a PAGAN holiday that the early Xtian church stole from the Pagans. It was not uncommon then for a new Religion to "borrow" defeated religion's holidays.
The celebration at the end of December original intent was the Winter Solstice. Pagan's celebrated this event because it was the 1st indicator of the end of winter and the return of summer.
The winter solstice is not the only holiday and or religious symbol "borrowed" by the Xtians, there is also Halloween, there is the crucifix itself, Jesus also. Don't believe me, please look it up. There are crucifixes AND depictions of Jesus (not the Xtian one) found in artifacts dating back 500 or more years B4 you're so called "Savior".
I did not start this, but I am sure people will reply with here he goes again, spouting this anti-religious stuff.
For those of you I am again saying that I am only responding to someones ridiculous and entirely false comments.
"So you don't believe in God, eh? So where did the physical universe come from, sparky? Where did all matter come from? Itself? Give me a break!"
Where did your "God" come from?
To me, it is even more implausible to think that a "God" created everything then for everything to have always been there. Who created "God"? Did he create himself? Did another "God" create him?
All matter came from a quantum singularity. B4 that no one knows for sure, but there is a new theory call M theory or Super String theory that has mathematically proven how to get past the quantum singularity. (big bang) This theory states that the Universe that we are in is just one of an infinite number of Universes floating on a membrane. Every so often, 2 of these Universes collide and you have another big bang.
This is just a theory in a long line of theories. I am not saying any of this is true, but to me it is much more plausible than a Super Omnipotent Dictator saying abracadabra and poof, everything just magically appears. No, I like to look past Religion's magic show of Illusion and to use logic in attempting to understand the how and why of the existence of this Universe or Multiverse that we live in.
Scientists, rational and free thinkers say...we do not know...how can we find out?
The Earth's religions claim to know EVERYTHING.
That is an extremely arrogant and lofty claim that cannot be proven even on the most elementary level. (please do not point to the Bible as proof) it is JUST a book as is the Koran and the Bagavad Gita. They did not fall from the sky, they were all written by man.
As for my use of Mythmass, all of the worlds religions past and present are based on myths and legends whether you believe in them or not.
You are an Atheist to ALL religions except your own. Why is that? I believe it is because your parents were Xtians and the environment you grew up in was largely Xtian.
I also believe that were you born into a Muslim environment with Muslim parents that you would be a Muslim. There is no such thing as a Xtian child, only a child off Xtian parents. A child does not know of religion or "God", he needs to be taught these things. Therefore, you see my reasoning for the only reason (unless you converted) of your Xtianity.
Please believe in whatever "God or Gods you want to, that is your right. Please allow me to NOT believe in a "God or "Gods" as that is MY right.
Thank you...and God bless (I keed, I keed)
Jay @ Jul 21st 2007 12:49PM
OSX,
You ever heard of 'infinite regression'? Course not, because you are clearly a fundamentalist (with the emphasis on "mentalist") moron influenced by theological dogma.
The argument for god comes from the religous claim that "everything that exists needs a cause". Fine: now tell me who or what 'caused' god to exist? And who or what 'caused' what 'caused' god to exist? And that before. And before that...and that...etc etc ad infinitum ad nauseam. Exactly.
And as has been pointed out elsewhere on this thread, Christians stole what you refer to as "Christmas" (bar the nativity fairy tale itself) entirely from the North European pagans. Ans talking of the nativity, did you know that 'Virgin (Mary)' was mistranslated from the Greek for 'maiden (Mary)'? The correct translation is 'young woman' and NOT 'virgin'?
Now let's get back to the PS3, shall we?
Jay @ Jul 21st 2007 12:52PM
A fine, Dawkinsian answer from GodisaMyth there. Bravo.
As for Reeves' claim, methinks he has conciously written-off this Christmas and is trying to claim it don't matter, which is ridiculous both in terms of Sony's earnings, the PS brand, and market/consumer perceptions of the PS3. It matters much. Very much.
Andy @ Jul 21st 2007 1:19PM
"The other half of the world isn't Christian you know."
Too bad the Christian half holds all the money.
Xbox 360 wasn't meant to last 10 years...you will be lucky if it lasts 5.
KillarClown @ Jul 21st 2007 2:36PM
I was born on christmas. If SONY wants to go start a full blown hate-on for the day i'm in!
..sick of gettin ripped off, god. One card? merry-birthday? that's not funny! *shakes fist*
GodisaMyth @ Jul 21st 2007 2:45PM
Jay, what is your psn id?
mine is Killjebus.
Dawkins IS the man.
The PSone started coming into it's own in Mythmass 2007, 2 years after launch.
The PS2 started to take over Mythmass 2001.
So, if the PS3 does well this year and then brings heavy hitters to the table like FF13, RFOM2, Getaway, among others, then I see a repeat of the previous 2 generations.
The PS3 has only been out 7 months. That is nothing if you compare the previous 2 Sony consoles.
I remember alot of people saying the same kinds of things about the PS2 also.
We will see what happens this year and next. If the PS3 is still in 3rd, then I will say Sony has lost this generation. I doubt that they will, I predict they will be #1 by Mythmass 2008 or middle of 2009.
The 360, who knows.
The Wii, will be sputtering and looking older than a 70 year old grandma in a bikini.
Consolcwby @ Jul 22nd 2007 9:02PM
Uhmmm... You guys, gals, herms, do realise that the dude in the above article is from Europe?... right? I mean, North America has a different sense of Christmas and what it means commercially than other places around the world - so, when he says "SONY" he is referring to SCEE is he not? NOT SCEA or SCEI... I mean, you DO know that, right?... right?? =o
John @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:08PM
Sony is not worried about Xmas because everything right now is lined up, and they will do predictably well-- the whole reason for this feeling, is that in January of this year they were extremely nervous, and correcting a number of problems but also correcting a lot of disinformation. So back then, their view of Xmas was a pretty scary thing, not knowing for sure if they would have stuff in place by then (price reduction, upscaling, games, public image, manufacturing, rumble, home, and first-party games). Now that they've had a strong E3 based on stuff that is now fully in place, compared to how they felt 7 months ago, they're breathing much more easily, so his statement is really a reflection of that paradigm shift, where they're still not 'finished' but everything is in place to meet their goals, and they are secure that they will meet the modest goals they set for xmas of 07.