INTERVIEW: ANDREW HOUSE, SCEE


the same. The pace of change in the portable space – phones in particular – is so much quicker.


But I think with the current PSP, there are opportunities to reach out to new audiences if you can hit the right value proposition. Beyond that, yes we are a company that’s history is based on innovation, and we will look to apply that innovation in the portable space. But these aren’t plans I can talk about now.


Last time we spoke, you described PSPgo as an ‘experiment’. So what have you learnt? I think we’ve learnt a couple of things. We learnt a lot about how consumers want to obtain their content digitally, and we learnt a lot about the still-strong consumer desire to retain their game library. And I think we also realised a segmentation of the market, with


IS 3D REALLY THE FUTURE?


3D MAY be big in the cinema, but it has yet to take off in the home. However, SCEE president Andrew House is confident that is all about to change, and the uptake will be faster for 3D than it was for HD. “3D is going to be driven by building an ecosystem that’s based around content, TV penetration, right devices and so on,” says House.


“In the UK you are seeing a strong push by broadcasters like Sky who see enormous


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potential in 3D. Their track record in driving HD penetration was key. “But you’ve also got the fact it is a shift in technology against challenging economic circumstances for a lot of countries in Europe. So that is something that makes us pause a bit.


“Rather than saying when the tipping point will be, I do think it will be a faster adoption than the shift from standard to high definition. I think the benefits of 3D are a lot more


tangible in an interactive experience, with a better sense of realism and precision. “It is also the one 3D entertainment experience that is, to a great degree, not replicable outside of the home. “Our role is to act as a pioneer and also to act as evangelists and to help developers get the right experience with 3D games. We’ve done some great groundwork and I think you’ll see 3D games come to fruition next year.”


December 17th 2010 39 106m


The number of units PS3 needs to sell in six years before it can match PS2’s incredible ten-year performance


certain users having a propensity to move much more quickly into a digital-only environment, but there is a huge swathe of consumers who still have a big attachment to physical media.


Another form of learning on that is the success we’ve seen on PS3 of the HD collections, where we have taken older franchises, increased their resolution, added functionality and sold them as compilations. That has been a surprise hit for us. And the reason it is a surprise is because we as a business still think that our content does not have the same long life that movie content will have. There’s a lot of discovery and learning in that area and understand people’s attachment to their libraries was a big piece of that.


At Gamescom, Kaz Hirai told MCV that he didn’t expect to see a


digital-only future for PlayStation for a long time. Is this still the view at Sony? You’re asking me if I will disagree with my boss, which is always a challenging question.


I am absolutely in agreement with Kaz, because we are talking about different trends.


One of the major challenges in the digital-only space – and this is something many content providers are really wrestling with – is trying to work out how you can efficiently merchandise in the digital space when you have thousands and thousands of different apps and content experiences. That can be really challenging.


Browsing digital content is a little overwhelming and too confusing, and that’s the underpinning challenge that makes me think there is a strong role for physical media for many years to come.


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