Dave Karraker, recently appointed as Sony's new senior director of corporate communications, took the time to take a knee with Gamasutra and gab gaming. At least, gaming from his company Sony's point of view. Important to people like us GS: A lot of people feel that's Sony's way of taking on all comers – who do you feel is your main competitor right now?
DK: I would say that if you asked any gamer, our main competitor is the Xbox 360, just because the target demographic that we're going after is similar. That being said, I think in regards to Nintendo and the Wii, it's easier for us to go after the hardcore gamer first, as that's kind of always been our target, and if we want to expand from there to the more casual gamer, it's probably easier for us to do than start with the casual gamer, and try to go up to the hardcore gamer. It's an easier message for me to deliver.
GS: Are you worried at all about Nintendo taking any marketshare from the PS3, or do you really feel like people will buy one HD console and the Wii?
DK: Yeah, for us it's apples and oranges when you compare the PS3 with Wii. They've done a great job of saying exactly who they're going after, the casual gamer, the hardcore gamer, and we've said exactly who we're going after. And you can't, when you put the systems side by side technologically, and even price-wise, they just don't compare to each other.
So let's get this straight: by "price-wise" he meant that for a system including a HDD and Blu-ray player, there is no comparrison in cost to the Wii? Well, if we wanted to put a Blu-ray player and HDD into a Wii, we imagine it would cost us a bit more than $600.00. Side-by-side on a retail shelf, however, is a different matter. Besides, who says Nintendo-lovin' gamers aren't hardcore? I killed a shark with my bare hands once!*
* - This is, in fact, a lie.
