Sony’s Mark Levitan: Product functionalities will set them apart; 2009 is PSP’s year (again)
Sony Marketing and PR Manager”>Mark Levitan opens up about how Sony really feels now towards third-party publishers. They’re good, but not great for exclusives. He also reiterated claims of 2009 being “the year of the PSP.” Check it out after the jump.
Sony Marketing and Public Relations Manager Mark Levitan sat down with Here New Brunswick to talk about their game plan for their consoles, the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable.
On the PS3 front, Levitan confessed that they have realized they can no longer rely on third party publishers. If they want their console offerings to be a cut above the rest, then they’ll have to focus more on creating original IPs. Not that third-party publishers don’t deliver, but it’s just that they can’t be depended on for exclusives.
As we’ve seen in the last couple of years, you can’t really depend on third party for exclusives anymore. Fallout 3 is an awesome game and it’s going to be awesome on the PS3 but I know it’s on the Xbox 360 as well. So is Call of Duty: World at War and other titles.
Indeed, they do find that their own products are what set them apart from their competitors. “We look at some of the franchises we have now like Gran Turismo, God of War, and Resistance – those are amazing franchises that are among, in my opinion, the best in the industry,” he furthers.
So given that it’s been proven that their own games can stand on their own, what will then be the clincher for this console race? According to him, it’s the price. But more than the price tag, consumers will also have to look at the functionality. That is why despite the numerous successful moves at price cuts of Microsoft, they’re not budging.
Functionality is kind of hand in hand with price – you have to say to yourself, if you’ve bought an HDTV, 1080p resolution is important to you so maybe you want a Blu-ray player. If that’s something you’re considering, then obviously you’re going to pick a PS3. You can go to any chain store and pick up a Blu-ray player for an extra 100 bucks, you can get a PS3.
… I think that funcionality will separate us from our competition.
Looking forward, Levitan says that “it is not a mistake by any means to buy a PSP now.” There are a lot of strong titles just waiting in the wings, and they’re sure to be big hits. MAG (Massive Action Game) is one such title, for example, as well as Infamous. Of course, there’s Resistance: Retribution slated to come out February of next year.
In that note, he reiterates the claim that 2009 is going to be the year of the PSP. Hearing that, I cannot help but be reminded of John Koller‘s exact same claims just last month, particularly on how PSP’s software decline will be reversed by 2009. In fact, he’s been saying that for two years now. He also said the same thing back in 2007, claiming that 2007is the year of the PSP.
Not that I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but hopefully, things will turn ’round for the PSP, so that their claims that every year is the PSP’s year won’t just be claims but actual fact.
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