relationship between the platform being created and strengthened by new experiences. And then that reinforcing the strength and one hopes the longevity of the platform overall. I’ve heard conventional wisdom in the industry that says – and it is kind of like an American presidency – that the first two years in a lifecycle is the only chance to innovate with a new audience. We take a different view. It is part of the role of a platform holder to have the confidence and to make the investment where necessary to show that six years into a lifecycle, there is a significant audience that is going to actively peruse new IP. And the onus on that is to deliver on those expectations.
Tell us about Wonderbook. Where did the idea come from? The idea came out of our London Studio. There was a certain amount of serendipity around it. The guys from London Studio with Michael Denny [European studios SVP] were mulling this [Wonderbook] idea, and at the same time, we were at a corporate level starting to forge the partnership with J.K Rowling around Pottermore, which I was quite heavily involved with.
It was a case of myself working on that and Michael saying: “you should see this thing we are working on.” And both of us said there is just a phenomenal fit here. From there, the next step – in some senses to see if we could get some validation – was presenting it to J.K Rowling. And then she just became gradually more and more creatively involved. She was enthusiastic about it from the first time she saw it. She gave us great pointers around Book of Spells, because her commitment around kids reading delivered on the book aspect of Wonderbook. That is why there is a good focus on text. That came from her, and we embraced it. We are extremely blessed in having an association with the most popular author of our time. But I think what is intriguing is the model around Wonderbook – the idea that the book, and PlayStation Eye, is something that you purchase once. You can then create a content flow behind that, that I think will surprise people in terms of the ease with which the content can be created, and also how cost-effectively it can be done.
Vita appeared to get short shrift on stage at E3. Where does this leave Vita? We thought we gave Vita a good shout during the conference, there were two fantastic announcements which were designed to show that the platform can deliver very differentiated ‘only on Vita’ extensions of great console games. We demonstrated by highlighting things like YouTube, that there is commitment to give the range of network services, making sure that it has a multi-functional aspect. And then I think there is another opportunity, a sort of third pillar to the strategy, which is how we can fully take advantage of a digitally connected device. To explore access to different kinds of content and new content models – starting with PSOne and leveraging the assets that we
Part of my job is to build bridges with the rest of Sony and banish the idea that SCE is somehow a separate island.
Andrew House, Sony
already have. I joked that the movie studios have been doing this for 50 years. And we as an industry are starting to get to grips with that.
Has Vita’s slow start to life forced you to take another look at it? Or perhaps react to it in a way that Nintendo did with 3DS? I don’t think there has been a need for a re-look. We are in what is a very competitive space. I think we need to put more emphasis on the kinds of experiences that define and differentiate Vita. That is always going to be one of its objectives. But there needs to be a reinforcement on that.
But also, because it is for us the first truly networked portable device in our proprietary gaming space, there is a need to think more broadly about the implications of that for our business model, and to think about how the consumer wants to acquire content. 20 per cent of Vita content is being downloaded. That tells you
that the consumer has an appetite in this space. It just creates a need for us to think through our business model in a broader way than before.
Why did you rebrand PlayStation Suite to PlayStation Mobile? I felt that PlayStation Suite was a confusing name. It referred to a set of development tools that underpinned the system, which is great, but we were going to struggle to get consumer traction unless there was an easily understandable proposition. It now says what it does on the tin, which is a PlayStation experience that is available on mobile devices. And there was also the idea of the mobility of the PlayStation experience into other areas. That’s the idea we are trying to get across.
Has the PlayStation Mobile strategy changed then? We are trying to marry some of our strengths in games interfaces and developer relations and knowledge, with the large install base of mobile Android devices. We said right from the start – but I think a lot of people didn’t quite believe us – that this was going to be an open strategy, and would have breadth beyond just Sony mobile devices. And we feel we have secured the first step in what we hope is a set of partnerships with HTC. HTC is a strong manufacturer, it has a lot of enthusiasm for PlayStation Mobile, and on a very pragmatic basis it has a strong presence in North America, which dovetails rather nicely with the traditional strength of Sony mobile or Sony Ericsson, which is more centred around Europe and Japan.
PS4, then. Why is now not the time to talk about a new PlayStation? The right time to talk about new advances in hardware is when you can demonstrate a significant leap on the current experience, and something that is going to be attractive. That remains our philosophy. Beyond that we have nothing to say at this point.
Have the wider financial struggles which Sony has faced impacted the PlayStation business? No. In Kaz [Hirai, Sony CEO]‘s first strategy meeting he pointed out three core businesses that he felt was critical to Sony’s future and we were honoured and somewhat pressured to be highlighted as one of them. I see my role, in part of my return to Sony corporation, is to serve Kaz best by building bridges with the other divisions, which is critical for any large corporation. And also to banish the idea that SCE is somehow a separate island, which sits apart from the rest of the organisation.
SCE chief Andrew House has been building relationships with publishers and Sony’s other divisions