PS4 TRADE GUIDE: PLAYSTATION UK INTERVIEW
Japanese organisation, that has given PS4 quite a different impetus and flavour.
The other thing I should note from my perspective is the huge depth of warmth for the brand. The PlayStation memories thing was amazingly revolutionary. There’s such warmth for the heritage and that’s been almost like another side to the equation.
Gara: There’s a definite sense that gamers are welcoming us back. Whether you look at the views on the ‘Since ‘95’ YouTube video, the spontaneous PlayStation Memories reaction or our pre-order data, there’s a real sense that we have found our focus and people believe we’re walking the talk.
Can you take PlayStation back to market leadership in the UK. Is that the goal? Gara: I think there are a number of goals. Clearly we want to deliver first and foremost for the gamer. And of course, we have a corporate obligation, so we need to deliver for our shareholders. And, as competitive guys, if doing that puts us back into a market leadership position we’ll be immensely proud and that will be a good ambition.
You’ve already told us that this is your biggest marketing spend ever. What does it involve? Murray Pannell, Marketing Director: We started a long time ago with paid for media. The strategy started with the gamer, making sure they’re aware of the console, the functionality, the features and the games. That’s been running for months.
November 15th is when our main campaign kicked off and that’s when the high profile TV, outdoor, cinema advertising started. That’ll run for the rest of our financial year
and it’s a massive investment for us – tens of millions.
Yes, we know that stock will be tight at launch. But we think we’re going to drive demand not just for people who want a console this Christmas but get them to want a console next year, trying to cement their loyalty to the PlayStation brand as early as possible Then relatively quickly and aggressively next year, we are going for the more casual gamer. I’d say half of our launch line-up is what I’d call casual games, three- plus games. Whether that’s Skylanders, Need for Speedor PlayRoom– a whole bunch of games that will appeal quite broadly.
Has your proximity with the Xbox One launch impacted what you are doing with your campaign? Have you had to ramp up what you are doing? Pannell: You’re always thinking about your competitor but our campaign build up would have broadly taken a similar kind of approach. So we keep an eye on what might be happening out there but you stick to your plan.
Your line-up has been weakened slightly by delays. And Xbox has been actively discussing its strong release schedule. Do you need to ramp up your product pipeline for the next six months? Gara: DriveClub and Infamousare both post- releases and already
announced titles. So in terms of the content pipeline, even without
new announcements we feel invery strong shape.
It’s true to say that we’d have loved to have Watch Dogsand DriveClubat launch. But the launch units are effectively sold, so it’s a nice second wind of the campaign as stock situations improve and more exclusive PS4 titles land. Some of the most anticipated titles like Destiny align with significant PlayStation points of difference. That gives us huge encouragement.
Sales of current-gen blockbusters have fallen. Is that due to people waiting for PS4 and Xbox One?
Gara: That seems to be a factor at play. If you look at the year to date, the software market is quite healthy. We all know that one phenomena – GTA V– has helped fill the void, but considering the stage of the life cycle, how consoles are tailing off and for the software market to be in growth is remarkable. That’s even after those games you are referring to with numbers weaker than people might have expected.
There’s definitely a transition dynamic in there. I certainly would not sit here and say that those franchises are in trouble by any
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