Tag Archives: jack tretton

Sony’s Jack Tretton has said that he hopes sales of PS3 are better in fiscal 2009 and 2010 compared to fiscal 2008.

“Hopefully last year is as bad as it gets,” he told Fast Company. “I think all indicators are that 2009 is going better than 2008. In 2008, we had a 38 percent increase in sales and we hit our ten million units worldwide goal for PS3 sales… At the worst possible time, if you’re hitting numbers and delivering success… my hope is that as our production efficiencies improve and more great games come to market, the horizon has got to be better for 2009 and 2010.

“It’s like being out there in a storm – it does cause you to question your conviction, and tie yourself to the mast and weather the storm. We have hit a very challenging period of trying to sell future technology, a high-end device, but is on the high-end retail pricing spectrum, at a time when people’s disposable income is limited. But I think the fact we were successful in that says people are getting the message, that you get tremendous value when you buy a PlayStation product.

“Yes, there are cheaper machines out there, but not ones that deliver the degree of value for the money that ours does.”

Via CVG.

SCEA boss Jack Tretton has told Fast Company that those calling for a PS3 price drop need to take a longer view.

“People are having short-term thinking – the platform is not even three years old. It was $599; it’s now $399,” he said.

“The focus on pricing is something we appreciate, but you have to have the conviction and the confidence that you are on the right path for the long term and ultimately you’ll get all the consumers you want.

“You won’t get them all day one, but we’re looking to get them over a 10-year period. It’s going to take different things to get different consumers.”

Come on, Cologne. Hit the link for the full thing. Thanks, EG.

Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is heading to PSP as both a downloadable title and in UMD format.

“We’re proud to extend this truly unique handheld Grand Theft Auto experience to PSP and offer a downloadable version of Chinatown Wars for PSP Go!,” said Rockstar founder Sam Houser.

“Rockstar Leeds has shown incredible talent in creating games that raise the bar in terms of depth and innovation on portables, and with Chinatown Wars we have a rich, fast-paced, and incredibly addictive entry into the series.”

SCEA CEO Jack Tretton was equally delighted with news: “Rockstar’s work with the GTA series has been an enormous part of the success of PlayStation platforms,” he said.

“We’re excited to welcome the critically acclaimed Chinatown Wars to the outstanding line-up of great games headed to the PSP platform this fall.”

Press release after the break.

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Sony bossman Jack Tretton says that it’s “absolutely conceivable” that company’s new motion controller will be compatible with the present library of games on PS3.

“I think our [motion] controller can be used with every game that’s on the system now,” he told CNBC, “and every game we’re working on.”

He also says that the new controller will be more “flexible and diverse” than the WiiMote.

“Personally, it’s very difficult for me to perceive God of War 3 being played with the Wii controller,” he said. “It’s a different experience that doesn’t lend itself to certain types of games.”

Via Joystiq.

Sony boss Jack Tretton’s had a bit of a boohoo to CNBC about the fact his E3 press conference got spunked all over the internet before he got anywhere near the LA stage.

“People don’t respect confidentiality in this industry,” says Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. “It’s tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties.”

He added: “This is an industry that has trouble focusing on today,” he says “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.”

Full thing through there.

SCEA president Jack Tretton has said that the company has a nice line-up of titles coming to PS3 and finds it hard to believe that “gamers wouldn’t choose a PS3″ because of it.

He believes exclusives like God of War III, MAG, ModNation Racers and Uncharted 2 will boost sales of the console.

“I feel we have a formidable arsenal,” he said to SFChronicle. “I would find it hard to believe gamers wouldn’t choose a PS3 with this game line-up.”

Let’s hope so.

Thanks, MaxConsole.

Geoff Keighley has twittered that SCEA boss Jack Tretton has confirmed to him that Metal Gear Solid: Rising will indeed come to PlayStation 3.

“Spoke to Tretton – he confirmed Metal Gear Rising is absolutely coming to PS3 alongside Xbox 360,” tweeted Geoff.

This one looks like it’ll run and run.

It’s so on. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have all said in this ESA press release that this year’s E3 is going to be a whopper, with Microsoft’s Don Mattrick saying the company’s showing this year is going to change the way people think of home entertainment. Forever.

“Microsoft is gearing up for a big presence at E3 which will completely transform how people think about home entertainment,” said Mattrick. “We’re excited about the momentum that is building in the industry in anticipation of our June 1st media briefing, which will kick off E3 in blockbuster style.”

“Nintendo has been a long time attendee of E3 and it has our full support,” said Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime. “E3 brings a wide variety of key audiences into contact with products from many companies, including Nintendo. It’s the place where creativity is on display, and as a ‘sneak peak’ for our entire industry it helps generate excitement for gamers around the world.”

“Sony Computer Entertainment America is looking forward to another great showing at this year’s E3 Expo,” said SCEA boss Jack Tretton. “The audience of North American-based and foreign media and key industry partners makes E3 Expo an ideal place for us to unveil the latest PlayStation news and products at our press event on June 2.”

E3 runs from June 2-4 this year. It’s going to be amazing. Full thing through the link.

Sony issued a serious business press release for a serious business situation in the wake of last night’s September NPD figures, using words like “solid,” “footing” and “confident” to describe PS3′s performance and position as it moves into the Christmas period.

“We remain confident that our footing is solid as we enter the holiday season this year,” said SCEA boss Jack Tretton.

“Our new 80GB PS3 model has made its way to retail shelves and into consumers’ living rooms as the best value for both their gaming and entertainment needs.

“If the impressive pre-sale numbers and ratings for LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, and Resistance 2 are any indication, we anticipate hardware and software sales to continue to lift in October as we officially kick off the broadest and deepest software line-up this holiday, including LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and NBA ’09: The Inside.”

PS3 sold 232,408 units in September in the US, up 95 percent on the previous year.

Full thing through the link. For the rest of our September NPD coverage, hit this.

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Sony stuck to numbers in its post-NPD press release last night, saying it had shown “strong” sales in the US in August and keeping the trash talk very light.

“We had yet another strong month for PlayStation in August, which validates that consumers are indeed recognizing the long-term value that PS3 offers as both a gaming and home entertainment device,” said CEO Jack Tretton.

“We also began shipping the new 80GB PS3 model in late August to address any short term inventory transitions from the 40GB to 80GB model. We’re looking forward to a solid holiday season and are excited to offer a string of unmatched content to consumers in the coming months with LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, Resistance 2, and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.”

Year-to-date growth for the entire PlayStation brand was at 21 percent, said the firm, now standing at $3.7 billion in revenue.

Full thing after the link. Get the rest of our NPD coverage here, and all the raw sales data here.

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In the wake of July’s NPD figures, we thought we’d look at just how well the ‘big three’ have fared over the last seven months by tallying all hardware data for 2008.

We all know Nintendo is having a fantastic year, but just how well is Wii doing?

Microsoft and Sony are fighting their own high-def battle, but how big is the margin between the two, and who has the lead?

After the drop.

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Speaking with Gama, Sony’s Scott Steinberg has addressed the fact the the PS3 is the most expensive console on the market by saying its best is yet to come.

“The price of the PS3 is high but you’re paying for potential,” he said. “The ten-year strategy is ingrained in all of us. Jack [Tretton] has brought that to all levels of the organization.”

We’re leaving the comments up to you.

Full thing through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Sony had an easy month when it came to its post-NPD press release this time, being able to confirm a huge sales victory over 360 in the US in June thanks to the release of both MGS4 and an exclusive Metal Gear bundle.

“PS3, led by the launch of the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 bundle, continued to experience tremendous momentum in June 2008, selling 405,488 hardware units – 84% higher than Microsoft’s Xbox 360 (according to NPD June 2008 sales data),” said the statement. “PS3 year-over-year hardware sales growth exceeded 311% in June, with month-over-month growth exceeding 94%.”

SCEA boss Jack Tretton added: “The PlayStation brand is truly hitting its stride on its long-term opportunity across all three platforms. Our strong June numbers serve as proof to the continued momentum of the PS3 and affirms that we’re exactly where we expected to be.”

Full thing through the link. Interestingly, Microsoft doesn’t appear to have issued an NPD statement at all.

Thanks, Kotaku.

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Speaking to journalists in LA today, SCEA boss Jack Tretton said he was disappointed by Square’s decision to bring FFXIII to 360.

“Am I disappointed by it? Yes,” he said. “Am I surprised? No.”

He probably looked over the top of his glasses as he said that. Naughty Square.

Thanks, Kotaku.

SCEA CEO Jack Tretton said in a roundtable with journalists at E3 today that he would have liked to have had backwards compatibility in PlayStation 3, but the company has made its decision and is sticking with it.

He explained that Sony did “not take a greater hit on production cost without losing PlayStation’s heritage” and that backwards compatibility “wasn’t all that expensive.”

“But we’re selling PS2 software to PS2 customers, and selling PS3 software to PS3 consumers,” he added.

“I would like to have had it in there, but Sony’s collective strategy determined we could afford to lose it. We’ve now gone down that road: we’re not going back.”

By Mike Bowden

SCEA boss Jack Tretton said this morning that the company is still mulling over whether to implement an internal storage device to PSP.

“I think we definitely thought about it,” he said. “I think that’s the trend moving forward.”

He went on to say that as the cost of memory continues to diminish, the chance that PSP’s next hardware revision will contain a hard drive of some sort is increasing.

Thanks, Kotaku.

By Mike Bowden

Sony has said that over 130 PlayStation 2 titles are to be released this year, which means that by the end of 2008 there will be over 10,000 games for Sony’s eight year-old system.

“The biggest brands in the industry are still delivering games on PS2,” said big Jack Tretton, SCEA CEO at yesterday’s E3 press conference.

Thanks, GI

By Mike Bowden

At IGN. However, if you’d rather stay here and watch them, hit the jump as we’ve embedded them all for your pleasure.

See Sackboy help Sony CEO Jack Tretton display just how awesome PlayStation sales figures can look. Out October, by the way.

By Mike Bowden

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Missed this in the rush last night. SCEA boss Jack Tretton said in the Sony E3 press conference that MGS4 would not be possible on any other machine than PS3, partly because of the console’s Blu-ray drive.

His comment came after a source told VG247 yesterday that the game’s transition to the Microsoft hardware was “inevitable” in the wake of the company’s coup in grabbing a 360 version of FFXIII earlier this week.

Thanks, MCV.

Reuters is reporting that Sony CEO E3 superstar, Jack Tretton, said that the company was “well on its way” to meeting its goal of selling 10 million PlayStation 3 units worldwide in its current fiscal year, ending March.

Jack Tretton hosted Sony’s E3 keynote this evening, in case you’ve been sleeping under a rock.

By Mike Bowden