Reading between the lines of Jack Tretton

GameDaily had an interview with Jack Tretton, Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of SCEA. Sadly, they did not grill him on his PR talk and just let him babble on. Tretton talked smack about both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS while making the PSP and PS2 seem like systems from heaven itself. Interesting man!

First, Tretton talks of Microsoft‘s reasoning for the relative failure of the Xbox when compared to the PlayStation 2. He then states how the PS2 is beating the Xbox 360 too! Well, obviously Mr. Tretton. The PlayStation 2 is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Xbox 360 and already has a sizable game collection. It’s the very definition of a mainstream console. The original PlayStation was probably being outsold by the Super Nintendo as well in the early part of its life.

Not only that, he then talks about how the Xbox 360 is selling worse than the original Xbox did during the same time frame. If he looked a bit closer, he’d realize it’s because of the shortages before Christmas. The Xbox 360 has sold more in the first quarter of 2006 than the Xbox did in the first quarter of 2001. It is gaining momentum. Is it outselling the PS2? No. But then again, don’t expect the PlayStation 3 to be outselling the PS2 anytime soon either. I wonder what he’ll say when he finds out the PS2 is beating the PS3?

At least in the 360’s case, the blame can be placed on Microsoft for supplying him with ammunition. I don’t think anyone will argue that the 360 launch was a disaster due to the high amount of shortages during that crucial time of the year. What’s even more interesting is Tretton’s words on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

To compare the two systems in such a way that the PSP seems to be the victor in marketshare, he excludes all parts of the world except North America. In Japan, the DS is outselling the PSP at a ratio of 5:1 weekly. Even then, in North America the DS has outsold the PSP 5.6 million to 4.9 million. So what is a Sony PR man supposed to do? Exclude some months of course!

Tretton, like another Sony PR guy before him, only compares the months since the PSP’s launch. This effectively takes out the million or so units sold during launch. Then he says something odd. He says the Nintendo DS has been trailing the PSP and Nintendo’s other platforms for most of those months since then. Although it’s true the DS has been trailing the GBA for almost every month and the PSP for at least half those months, the fact is that the PSP has been trailing the GBA for most of those months as well. He doesn’t think the DS is expanding its audience due to that reason. Using the same reason, he thinks the PSP is. Weird, no?

Tretton also believes, without data to back it up it seems, that more 30 to 50 year olds play with the PSP than the DS. In Japan, that has already been proven false but since no study has looked at that yet in North America, he may very well be right. Then again, he’s merely assuming. He believes it’s only the core Nintendo handheld market from the GBA that’s on board with the DS. Maybe he doesn’t know it, but much of the core audience on the GBA is on it because of Pokemon – a franchise that hasn’t put a major game on the DS yet.

All in all, journalists should stop taking in every word as fact from these PR guys and do what 1UP did months ago and ask for real answers. Obviously, people like Mr. Tretton work for a particular company and have their own agendas. They will try and put themselves in a good light. They cannot be completely blamed for that. But isn’t it time that journalists look for the truth? Isn’t that what journalism is about?

Via GameDaily

GameDaily had an interview with Jack Tretton, Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of SCEA. Sadly, they did not grill him on his PR talk and just let him babble on. Tretton talked smack about both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS while making the PSP and PS2 seem like systems from heaven itself. Interesting man!

First, Tretton talks of Microsoft‘s reasoning for the relative failure of the Xbox when compared to the PlayStation 2. He then states how the PS2 is beating the Xbox 360 too! Well, obviously Mr. Tretton. The PlayStation 2 is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Xbox 360 and already has a sizable game collection. It’s the very definition of a mainstream console. The original PlayStation was probably being outsold by the Super Nintendo as well in the early part of its life.

Not only that, he then talks about how the Xbox 360 is selling worse than the original Xbox did during the same time frame. If he looked a bit closer, he’d realize it’s because of the shortages before Christmas. The Xbox 360 has sold more in the first quarter of 2006 than the Xbox did in the first quarter of 2001. It is gaining momentum. Is it outselling the PS2? No. But then again, don’t expect the PlayStation 3 to be outselling the PS2 anytime soon either. I wonder what he’ll say when he finds out the PS2 is beating the PS3?

At least in the 360’s case, the blame can be placed on Microsoft for supplying him with ammunition. I don’t think anyone will argue that the 360 launch was a disaster due to the high amount of shortages during that crucial time of the year. What’s even more interesting is Tretton’s words on the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

To compare the two systems in such a way that the PSP seems to be the victor in marketshare, he excludes all parts of the world except North America. In Japan, the DS is outselling the PSP at a ratio of 5:1 weekly. Even then, in North America the DS has outsold the PSP 5.6 million to 4.9 million. So what is a Sony PR man supposed to do? Exclude some months of course!

Tretton, like another Sony PR guy before him, only compares the months since the PSP’s launch. This effectively takes out the million or so units sold during launch. Then he says something odd. He says the Nintendo DS has been trailing the PSP and Nintendo’s other platforms for most of those months since then. Although it’s true the DS has been trailing the GBA for almost every month and the PSP for at least half those months, the fact is that the PSP has been trailing the GBA for most of those months as well. He doesn’t think the DS is expanding its audience due to that reason. Using the same reason, he thinks the PSP is. Weird, no?

Tretton also believes, without data to back it up it seems, that more 30 to 50 year olds play with the PSP than the DS. In Japan, that has already been proven false but since no study has looked at that yet in North America, he may very well be right. Then again, he’s merely assuming. He believes it’s only the core Nintendo handheld market from the GBA that’s on board with the DS. Maybe he doesn’t know it, but much of the core audience on the GBA is on it because of Pokemon – a franchise that hasn’t put a major game on the DS yet.

All in all, journalists should stop taking in every word as fact from these PR guys and do what 1UP did months ago and ask for real answers. Obviously, people like Mr. Tretton work for a particular company and have their own agendas. They will try and put themselves in a good light. They cannot be completely blamed for that. But isn’t it time that journalists look for the truth? Isn’t that what journalism is about?

Via GameDaily