Lempel: No more competition with Xbox Live, no competition at all with Apple

PSN Operations Director, Eric Lempel, has a lot of fighting words to say about the state of online service, the PlayStation Home. And it all boils down to this: there’s no more fighting with Xbox Live. He also said something about their “competition” with Apple, saying that they don’t necessarily want to go down the path of offering various software options, particularly for the PSP, because they don’t want to degrade the experience. Read on after the jump.

PSN Operations Director, Eric Lempel, has a lot of fighting words to say about the state of online service, the PlayStation Home. And it all boils down to this: there’s no more fighting with Xbox Live.

Winner.

That’s because for him, they don’t need to play ‘catch up’ anymore. At this  point in time, stable is how the PSN can basically be described. Said Lempel in his interview with Industry Gamers:

In some cases, I think we’ve got more, and we’ve got some other things they don’t have. In terms of strengths, of course we’re still free, and we’re giving you a lot for free. It’s not just free online gaming, but we’ve got PlayStation Home, which is a massive community and application that’s totally free to use. I think there’s a lot we’re doing in some cases they’re not doing, and I don’t see a lot of things they’re doing that we’re not.

He also said something about their “competition” with Apple, saying that they don’t necessarily want to go down the path of offering various software options, particularly for the PSP, because they don’t want to degrade the experience.

Right now our free catalog consists of demos, wallpapers, themes and videos about games. I don’t think we want to degrade the experience you get from a PSP. Because [iPhone] is not a gaming-centric device, I think a user picks it up and says, ‘This is kind of dumb, but I don’t care because I know this device wasn’t intended for games’…. we don’t want to see a bunch of little things that don’t quite make sense or provide a good experience because I think that takes away from what the device is intended for.

For the full interview, check out our source link below. Lempel also discusses the feedback of retailers towards the PSP Go, saying that it “has actually been quite positive.”

• Lempel: A hidden update on FW 2.80, the beautiful XMB, and an ‘open offer’ to Microsoft
• SCEE: French retailers NOT refusing to stock PSP Go
• XBL wins Guinness World Record’s Most Popular Online Console Gaming Service

Via Industry Gamers