Tag Archives: John Koller

Sony has told VG247 that it’s “captured the hardcore” with PS3, and while it will serve that central user with titles such as Heavy Rain and God of War III later this year, it plans on pushing further into the casual space with the console.

“There’s certainly a line-up of very strong family-friendly titles that we’re looking at for PS3 in our continuing effort to appeal to that casual consumer,” said SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller, speaking at GDC.

“We’ve captured the hardcore. The install base we have now tells us that the hardcore’s purchased. We’re moving on now to continue to support them with a tremendous line-up of games, but also look at softer brands that maybe we had with PS2 franchises we’re bringing over to PS3, or new IP.”

Koller told us to look to the past for hints to PS3′s future.

“Think of some of the latter-half PS2 franchises,” he said.

E3′s not that far away, is it?

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller is expecting this year’s E3 to be one of the most significant for the company in the last 11 years.

“It’s going to be a big E3,” Koller told VG247, talking at GDC.

“We’ve just started planning what the announcements will be, but I’ve been here for 11 years: this will be one of the larger E3s in terms of software and just discussions about where we’re going from a brand perspective and where each of the platforms is headed.”

It’s widely rumoured that PlayStation’s biggest brands are going to be megatonning Sony’s E3 press conference in June, and Koller did nothing to dampen expectation.

“I think some of the big announcements are going to come of the software side. We talked a bit at Destination PlayStation, and came out with about half of the PSP line-up, maybe even less, and the balance we’re going to be talking about in the months leading up to e3 and at E3,” he said.

“The same goes for PS3. There’s a really strong line-up of games that’s going to help drive a lot of business.”

Bring. It. On. E3 takes place in LA in the first week of June.

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has claimed that console software “exclusivity” was a a last-gen concept, and that higher development costs have forced game-creators to become platform agnostic.

“Exclusivity is something that doesn’t truly exist in this cycle,” the exec told VG247, speaking at GDC.

“What does exist is first-party product. That’s your exclusive product.”

Koller explained that the reality of PS3 and 360 development spelled the end of Sony’s great third-party PS2 exclusives, saying that Microsoft now has “the same thing”.

“Exclusivity in the last console was a much different proposition, because developers would have smaller development costs, and they wouldn’t necessarily feel the need to advertise that across all platforms,” he said.

“At that time we had a Grand Theft Auto exclusive, we had EA Sports at the beginning of PS2, we had Final Fantasy. And then we had a tremendous line-up of first-party games, that started off with the Jak & Daxters but went to the SOCOMs.”

Koller added: “We go to the next gen and Microsoft has the same thing. So you either have your first-party line-up, or you write cheques, and you need to buy that down.”

He said in the same interview that, in his opinion, Micrsoft had a more lenient policy to paying for exclusivity than Sony.

Sony’s first-party dev effort, Koller said, was as big as Microsoft and Nintendo’s combined.

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has told VG247 that Microsoft’s apparent need to pay for exclusivity on certain products – such as the Lost and Damned – is borne from a self-perceived lack of strength in its first-party line-up.

“Microsoft has had a much more lenient policy to writing cheques than we do,” he said.

“We don’t feel the need to write cheques necessarily with every publisher, like they did with the Lost and Damned and some other titles, because we feel very strongly in our first-party line-up.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’d put our first-party line-up against anyone’s, and Microsoft and other manufacturers probably lead a little bit when they’re writing cheques about how they feel about their own internal line-up.”

Microsoft reportedly loaned Rockstar $50 million for two episodes of GTA IV DLC, although the figure’s never been confirmed.

The first episiode, The Lost and Damned, is rumoured to have sold in the region of 1 million units.

Koller was speaking at GDC last month.

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has told the MI6 conference in San Francisco that PS3 Facebook integration is in the works.

From this Joystiq report:

During a panel titled “Casual to the Core: Redefining the Gaming Dynamic,” SCEA’s John Koller talked about social media and how it can affect the games space. When asked by panel moderator John Davison if there would ever be a point when someone could be playing PS3 and have it “spit out something to Facebook,” Koller stated that plans are already afoot. He said that such functionality is “critical not just for marketing but for the types of games we’re trying to develop. That day is coming quicker than some may think.”

Blimey. More through the link.

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has said that Blu-ray, and the public’s perception of the value it brings to PS3, will be a driving factor in increased sales for the machine this year.

“We are looking at a general move by the consumer to understanding the complete value of the PS3, inclusive of Blu-ray will is really gaining a lot of traction for us,” the exec told VG247.

Koller said that PS3 sales are expected to rise up to 15 percent this year compared to fiscal 2008.

PSP is to enjoy a similar rate of growth this year, he said, and that the handheld’s Remote Play feature would factor into the rise, just as Blu-ray will for PS3.

Despite appreciation of hardware features helping things along, though, software will play a vital role for the PlayStation family this year, Koller said.

“That’s being driven by, in a lot of ways, by our first-party software line-up, which is outstanding, but there’s some third-party titles coming,” he added.

“The line-up’s very strong.”

SCEA hardware marketing head John Koller has claimed that Sony’s first-party development division is as big as that employed by Nintendo and Microsoft. In total.

“Our development studios – the Worldwide Studios team – is as large as Microsoft and Nintendo’s combined,” he said, talking at GDC.

Koller said that Sony’s first-party roster for the coming years would feature a mix of fresh ideas and surefire successes.

“We have a tremendously creative group, and a line-up for the next few years that will bring a lot of new IP to the market, but will also being a lot of [tried and tested] franchises and new iterations to the PS3 in particular, but also PSP,” the exec added.

Koller didn’t give a figure on how many people were employed in Sony’s Worldwide Studio division.

Both PS3 and PSP’s first-party slate for 2009 is looking nice and healthy, with games like God of War III, Heavy Rain and inFamous already hoving into view for PS3, and a new MotorStorm, a LittleBigPlanet SKU and more on the way for PSP.

SCEA marketing boss John Koller sent out a statement over the weekend essentially saying that DSi is for children, while PSP targets “diverse demographics”.

DSi launched in both the US and Europe last week. Here’s the missive in full:

If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the “kids” market that they’ve always engaged, there isn’t much new with the DSi to support that. Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics. Games such as Rock Band Unplugged from MTV Games, Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft, Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix, and Hannah Montana from Disney demonstrate the commitment that publishers have to the PSP. From our own first-party studios, we’re launching unique versions of LittleBigPlanet and MotorStorm, and we’re also planning a steady stream of downloadable games — both new titles and PSone classics — to add to the content that PSP owners can already purchase wirelessly through PlayStation Store.

Thanks, Engadget.

SCEA marketing head John Koller has dropped a heavy hint that Gran Turismo’s future may not be limited to just PSP and PS3.

“[Polyphony Digital] report directly into our CEO, Kaz Hirai, so it’s a little bit of a ‘wait and see’,” the exec told VG247 when asked when we can expect to see GT5.

“But we look for that franchise to continue on as many platforms as possible.”

Koller said in the same interview, recorded at GDC, that Sony is currently looking at “GT5 across all platforms, just to see what makes the most sense.”

PC gamers may do well to get excited by the talk. Polyhony head Kazunori Yamauchi’s already said that “perhaps [GT5] comes to the PC,” talking specifically of a Chinese launch.

It doesn’t take the hugest leap of logic to guess Koller may be talking about a PC SKU here.

E3, kids.

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has claimed that upcoming multiplayer shooter MAG can only be built on PS3.

“MAG is a 256 online-player game which is spectacular,” he said, talking to VG247 at GDC last week.

“If you look at that competitively, it’s something that’s only possible on PS3. The processor speed, the ability of PS3 to showcase 256 players at any given time, and their actions.”

Koller went on to detail the Zipper Interactive game’s concept.

“It’s basically like an iteration of SOCOM, where you’re maybe commanding the SEALs, and someone else has the Rangers, and the Green Berets, and so on,” he said.

MAG was Sony’s “big” announcement at the end of its 2008 E3 press conference.

A movie was shown of the title, featuring soldiers, vehicles and lots and lots of guns.

It’s planned for release late this year.

Update: John Koller’s sent us the following statement as clarification to the comments made in this story:

“I wanted to clarify my comment as the broader point I was making is that our biggest franchises and our best developers from PlayStation 2 are continuing to transition to PlayStation 3, which will help spur PlayStation 2 fans to move toward next-gen gaming on PS3. Zipper Interactive is best known for its great work on the SOCOM franchise, and they’re building on their development experience to create a brand new IP in MAG. MAG is not a sequel to nor built upon SOCOM, and when the title launches this fall, PS3 owners will be able to experience intense 256-player combat, which is something that’s never been available on console before.”

SCEA marketing boss John Koller has told VG247 that Sony expects both PS3 and PS3 sales to rise up to 15 percent on a global level in the coming year.

The company has yet to confirm complete hardware figures for its fiscal year – its fourth quarter ended in March – but said both consoles have seen record sales in the past 12 months.

“We’ve been very bullish on PSP,” said Koller. “We had our largest sales year ever last year, and we’d look to go about 10-15 percent north of that this year.

“It’s for a number of reasons, but primarily because of the entertainment packs and line-up of software that’s coming. The software line-up alone should drive a lot of hardware sales.”

Koller said the story for PS3′s current position was a similar one.

“For PS3 I’ll stay general as well, but we also had our best sales year for PS3 last year and we’ll look to go north of that by a similar percentage.

“That’s being driven by, in a lot of ways, by our first-party software line-up, which is outstanding, but there’s some third-party titles coming. The line-up’s very strong.”

The exec added: “What I mentioned there was North America-focused, but you could probably extrapolate that globally as well.”

Sony has yet to confirm when it’s to announce its final 2008 results, but news of upward-looking hardware sales will delight both fans and trade alike.

Sony showed rough figures for the third quarter, with game division sales for the Holiday season down 32 percent year-on-year.

SCEA marketing boss John Koller’s told GameDaily he believes his newly-cheapened PS2 could crash Wii’s American party.

“We do think the $99 price point could steal some share [from Wii],” he said.

“From a technological standpoint, the Wii is much closer to the PS2 than it is to the next-gen consoles. It’s obviously not an HD box and the software development is on a par with where PS2 development is, so that’s a much more realistic and similar demographic.”

Sony made its “big” announcement regarding the ancient machine yesterday, dropping its price to $99 in the US and €99 in mainland Europe.

“We feel very confident that the $99 price level will allow us to grab our share [of the young and female audience],” Koller added.

PS2 is available at the new price point today.

SCEA’s director of hardware marketing, John Koller, has told VG247 that Gran Turismo 5′s release timing across “all platforms” is still a matter of seeing “what makes the most sense.”

Koller was responding to questions about the game’s PS3 release date, speaking at GDC last week.

“Ultimately, they are a developer who makes a lot of their own decisions,” Koller said of Polyphony Digital.

“But we are looking at GT5 across all platforms, just to see what makes the most sense.”

Koller fobbed off specifics on launch dates for further games in the series.

“Well GT5: Prologue’s out,” he joked.

“Seriously though, there is really nothing we can really say about it, other than it’s a franchise we would like to continue.

“So, other than that, we don’t really have any announcements regarding the game at this time.”

Last December, SCEE’s John Armstrong told a Spanish television program that we could expect Gran Turismo 5 by Christmas 2009.

Announcements related to both a PSP and PS3 version of GT5 are expected at E3.

SCEA marketing boss John Koller has told Wired that downladable titles for PSP are one of the firm’s “big pushes” for this year.

“One of our big pushes this year is to be sure that the right kind of content and the right kind of games in particular are placed on the PlayStation Network for download on the PSP,” he said, speaking at GDC.

“We’ve been engaged in a wide range of conversations with publishers over the last year, year and a half about software and games overall on the PSP. One significant topic that hasn’t necessarily been covered a lot is inclusion of digital copies of the games that they’re launching on UMDs.”

Koller, by way of giving a timeframe for downloads to hit PSP en bloc, pointed to late 2009.

“In the back half of this year, we should see a good rise in the amount of content that comes to PSN for the PSP,” he added.

Thanks, GI.

SCEA’s John Koller has told MTV that PSP will see non-PSone retro games coming to PSP in the future.

“In general there’s a lot of discussion about [publishers'] back catalogs that will finally find its way to PlayStation Network in the back half of this year,” said the exec.

“PSOne is included, but everything is on the table… We look for some of those big hits from all of the past games in their history and look for ways we can bring them over. It’s not always easy. There’s obviously technical areas that need to be bridged.

“But when those are solved, consumers will see a wide variety of retro games and brand new games coming to PSN.”

Ikari Warriors, please John. Full thing through the link.

Acclaim boss Dave Perry’s called on SCEA’s John Koller to publicly deny Sony’s upcoming, unannounced PSP revamp won’t include UMD support.

“John Koller is publically questioning my post about PSP 2,” Perry said on his Twitter.

“So I confirmed with Top PSP 2 developers. John, state that PSP 2 WILL have UMD.”

It won’t have UMD, obviously. Sony just doesn’t want to talk about anything to do with it yet.

“PSP2″ isn’t a successor at all, more a “reimagining” of the original design. It’s known to have a slide screen and is expected to be announced at E3.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Sony US marketing head John Koller’s told MTV that the firm’s in ongoing discussions to bring GTA back to PSP.

“No one should sleep on that franchise,” he said.

“That’s a tremendous franchise for PlayStation in general. We’ve had two that are the top two sellers on PSP right now. So, there’s definitely continued conversations with Rockstar on all their brands.

“That’s nothing that’s left the PlayStation family.”

Koller went on to insinuate that DS may not be the right setting for the upcoming Chinatown Wars.

“It’s an interesting launch on DS,” he said. It raises some eyebrows in a lot of areas. It’ll be interesting to see how that sells.”

More through there.

SCEA director of hardware marketing, John Koller, told Gama the he believes PlayStation 3 is still in the “early adopter phase.”

“The PSP, from a handheld perspective, it’s more of a 13-17 year old, multi-ethnic, a bit lower-income as well,” he said when asked what type of demographic is buying Sony products.

“The PS3 is still in its early adopter phase, tech-oriented consumer… they’re interested in the multi-functionality of the system.”

More through the link.

Thanks, Destructoid.

Sony’s once again said it has no plans to release “PSP2,” despite Eurogamer rumouring the contrary earlier this week.

From Alley Insider:

Speaking to SAI earlier today, Sony Director of Hardware Marketing John Koller said he’s familiar with Internet reports PSP2 game development is already underway, but said the rumors are completely unfounded. What’s going on, Koller told us, is Sony is pushing developers away from its “Universal Media Discs” and towards digital distribution of games via the PSP store. Someone misinterpreted the new push as “PSP2″ development, Koller said.

Sony still says “no plans for a PSP2 are underway.”

There’s more from Koller here. Thanks, Kotaku.

In his post celebrating the second birthday of PS3, SCEA marketing boss John Koller has claimed that 14 million people now have active PSN accounts worldwide.

There’s little doubt this confirmation is timed to coincide with the fact New Xbox Experience is launching tomorrow: to 14 million Live subscribers.

From the post, talking of advancements made with PSN in the last two years:

PlayStation Network has truly hit its stride with unique downloadable games and a video delivery service featuring movies, TV shows, and original programming that you can watch in HD with your PS3, or bring with you on your PSP. And with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment.

Leave your handbags at the door, gents. This is a respectable establishment.