Tag Archives: John Koller

SCEA’s John Koller has said that as far as platform life cycles are concerned, PSP will “absolutely” be around for 10-years.

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SCEA’s John Koller has explained to D’toid why Sony believes Move is better than Natal, and what it has in store for attendees at E3.

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In the wake of Nintendo’s 3DS announcement yesterday, SCEA marketing boss John Koller’s scotched any talk of a 3D update to PSP, saying 3D on PS3 is firmly where Sony’s at.

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Sony has decided to fight back against used game sales by requiring customers who purchase SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 to register through the internet before being able to play multiplayer online.

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John Koller, Sony’s director of hardware marketing, has told the Wall Street Journal that Apple’s iPad launch bodes well for its PSP handheld.

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John Koller has revealed Sony’s digital distribution plans for the year, stating that expanding the PlayStation Network is a “critical part” of Sony’s focus in 2010.

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John Koller, Sony’s head of PlayStation marketing, has weighed in on all the 3D hype at CES 2010 and reiterated Sony’s stance that 3D integration on PS3 is “as simple as a firmware update”.

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Sony Computer Entertainment America’s John Koller has told Ars that backwards compatibility on the PS3 won’t be making a return anytime soon, be that with a new hardware SKU or in a firmware update.

Ever.

“It’s not coming back, so let me put that on the table,” said Koller.

“It’s not as big as a purchase intent driver as you may be hearing. We’ve got such a substantial lineup of titles on the PS3; most people are buying the PS3 for PS3 games. They’ve buying it for PS3 games and Blu-ray movies.

That won’t be returning.”

Consider that one put to bed.

Go though the link for more.

Thanks, spikeymike.

Looks like the full version of the Qore episode that was leaked earlier has landed in Eurogamer’s lap.

In it, John Koller himself says that PSP Go! will hit stores this fall.

“It’s a 3.8-inch screen, it’s 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000, 16 gigs flash memory, Bluetooth support and all digital content so the UMD drive goes away so it’s going to be something a lot of consumers like – download straight to a hard drive,” he said.

“There’s games like Gran Turismo that are being announced at E3, and LittleBigPlanet that’s been announced before, and Jak & Daxter and there’s even a new Metal Gear Solid coming, so all those games will be available…”

“Integration with PSP is very important to us. And it works just like PSP-3000… A lot of people like to be able to take their content from PS3 with them on the go.”

Our heads just popped a bit.

Full thing through the link.

SCEA’s John Koller has apparently announced a PSP version of Metal Gear Solid in a movie of PSP Go that hit the web today.

Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, Jak & Daxter and Metal Gear games are all mentioned in the video, which includes footage of the machine interspersed with Koller being interviewed.

Watch it, quick.

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.”