PS3 was on 'life support,' admits Sony CEO

by Ross Miller { May 29th 2008 at 4:30PM }

Walt Mossberg managed to pull a mighty fun quote from Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer. During an on-stage interview at D6, Stringer said that the PlayStation 3 "was on life support for awhile," a pretty honest statement from the top executive of a multibillion dollar corporation about one of its flagship products.

Of course, that bit of honesty was just a preface to how the PS3 is in good shape now, with special kudos given to Grand Theft Auto IV and upcoming games sure to give the console a boost (Snake, you there?). Somewhat peripheral to gaming, but our favorite line from the writeup is when Stringer "notes that if it had lost the format war, his gravestone would have read "Betamax 2." Video of Sir Stringer's interview after the break.

Tags: all-things-digital, d6, howard-stringer, mossberg, stringer, walt-mossberg

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

tmacairjordan87 @ May 29th 2008 4:31PM

Commence the hating!

copa @ May 29th 2008 4:57PM

I don't think so. Howard Stringer is the only reason why I've had confidence that Sony could turn this thing around.

While delusional asshats like Jack Tretton and Krazy Ken were convincing themselves that things are swell while driving the bus off a fucking cliff, Howard Stringer was the only adult putting his hand on the wheel.

Howard Stringer doesn't say shit like, "I'll pay you $1,200 if you can find a PS3" or "You idiots will buy our system even if it doesn't have games" or "You welfare queens need to get a second job to buy my toy" or "$600 is a bargain."

Howard Stringer says shit like, "We are not inevitable. We can fail if we don't give consumers good value for their money" and "You will be held accountable for turning a profit. No excuses" and "Put your shit in a box, Ken. Security will be escorting you out at 4pm."

copa @ May 29th 2008 5:06PM

Fifteen months ago, here is what Howard Stringer had to say:

"If we fail, it is because we positioned PS3 sales as the Mercedes of the videogame field."

While all of the wankers were bragging about how they could stick dogshit on a cell processor, and the idiot masses would still lap it up for $600 a pop, Stringer was the only voice of reason saying Sony could fail if they don't get their head in the game and focus on day-to-day execution.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 29th 2008 5:32PM

Yeah, pretty much Stringer, Hirai, and Harrison were all fairly competitant in their speeches. Phil was the farthest out there of the three but for the most part, the Trettons are gone, hurrah...

Co @ May 29th 2008 6:19PM

Wong,

Phil was the most dead on of all of them regarding the need for social gaming, and a focus on casual oriented just as much as the core audience. He praised Wii then promptly left to head up Atari.

In that same vein Stringer seems to be very non-Sony like in his ways as well, which can only bode well.

John McPoop (PSN:johnnynumber5) @ May 29th 2008 10:58PM

@Co

The Japanese leadership of Sony was very slow and very much against what they saw as a fad "social gaming". Likewise Sony and Nintendo were also both very slow on what they saw as a fad in regards to online gaming and actually building a network for their platform. This is something Sony seems to be trying to get right but we haven't seen Nintendo really try and implement it fully. Obviously the Wii ware is a very good step imn the right direction but still very far from the service that Live offers.

The Wii certainly excels in social gaming to the point where its almost an exclusive trait of the Wii in general. There are obviously some examples like Galaxy that are the traditional platforming single player experience. However, we have also seen this social gaming revolution that is the Wii have a backlash in the eyes of the majority of more traditional gamers. In the eyes of many it is nothing more than a little kids system thats designed to be played with mommy and daddy. Thats obviously a bit of a harsh criticism but one thats not to far from the truth.

We are seeing Sony step in the direction of social gaming to a certain extent with HOME (if it is ever released) but I know thats in a different sense of the term.

Lastly, with the emphasis on social gaming experiences and more games that appeal to a broad spectrum of users you can see quality get lost in the process. In this months issue of Game Informer they actually have a nice spread on Nintendo's Software problem. They follow it up with a simple pie chart that breaks down as follows -

# Of Wii Games - 182
90 percentile on metacritic - 3%
80 percentile "" 8%
70 Percentile "" 20%
60 Percentile "" 29%
50 and under "" 40% (staggering)

# of PS3 games 150
90 percentile "" 2%
80 Percentile "" 30%
70 Percentile "" 28%
60 Percentile "" 23%
50 and under "" 17%

# of 360 games 368
90 Percentile "" 3%
80 percentile "" 21%
70 Percentile "" 29%
60 Percentile "" 22%
50 and under "" 25%

So you can see that for whatever reason (there are undoubtedly many) the Wii has a larger amount of lower rated games than the PS3 or 360. This could be because of the emphasis on social gaming and the types of games it produces. Not to mention the target demographic of the console (for better or worse) lends its self to more kid centric games that are easy to produce and will potentially sell a million or more companies.

It is a very interesting read if you have the newest edition of GI (GH World Tour on cover). I do think there is something to be said that when you try to appeal to everyone as Nintendo has done in the end you can potentially alienate an entire group of people. In this case that would be the more mature crowd of games probably in the age class of 18-40. Thats obviously not a scientific statement but I think its a pretty logical guess.

The Wii certainly has its fare share of top hits that are critically acclaimed but a good percentage of those titles that are not first party titles were already big hit on other consoles like RE4 and Guitar Hero.

This is not meant to be an attack on the Wii but it is an observation and I would like to hear some other peoples opinions on the matter.

T H @ May 29th 2008 4:32PM

Oh boy. Herrrrre we go...

Cyro @ May 29th 2008 4:33PM

This is going to get ugly pretty fast.....

JerJer @ May 29th 2008 4:33PM

basically.....they have a keanu reeves.

awww shit

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread) @ May 30th 2008 1:36AM

+1 for the Southpark reference. i love that Golden PSP episode.

SoulBlade @ May 29th 2008 4:34PM

At least it seems to have recovered. Now get us some more good games Sony! Don't care if they're cross platform or exclusive - just give us more to play

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 4:45PM

MGS4, LBP, Killzone 2, Resistance 2...WATS ABOUT TEZE1

josh @ May 29th 2008 4:50PM

"MGS4 (is NOT a FPS, dont kid yourself), Final Fantasy XIII, God Of War 3, GT5, LittleBigPlanet? "

are anyone of these games out now? MGS comes out soon, i know. but the 360 has plenty of non shooters, GTA, scene it, mass effect, oblivion, rock band/guitar hero, ninja gaiden 2... lots of cool non FPS games.

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 4:55PM

@ Josh

You posted in the wrong thread lol, but GTA, Oblivion, Rock Band/GH3 are all on PS3...

and Heavenly Sword, GT5P, Uncharted, Rachet and Clank these are all non-shooters that AREN'T on the 360.

deaftly @ May 29th 2008 4:54PM

OHHHHHHHH YEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

BananaBoat @ May 29th 2008 4:56PM

The first person perspective was a huge innovation in Metal Gear Solid 2. I absolutely loved it. That said, I'd rather only go into that mode when I'm aiming, and not the entire time I'm playing (I hope that's an option).

The PS3 became a success despite games on the day that Blu-Ray won the format war. I'm still waiting for the PS3 to become a console with great exclusives, and not a console where the mantra is always "Just wait until *whatever* comes out" like the PSP. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a big achievement for the console, but I'd like to see the niche games come back to the Sony consoles; Games like Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Katamari Damashii, maybe an Okami sequel (Pleaseeeee), etc. I'm glad the PS3 is selling well now, because if I had spent 500 (400 after rebate) on a PS3, only for it to be Betamax 2, I'd have cried myself to sleep.

deaftly @ May 29th 2008 4:56PM

I'll be honest, I don't even know where that was suppose to go.

Noshino @ May 29th 2008 4:57PM

deaftly, you are right, it can all be played on FPS (reportedly), but how long after MGS4 was announced was that fact mentioned? the hype was there long before the announcement of FPS mode being available

Noshino @ May 29th 2008 5:02PM

did....did he just mention Scene It?....wow, that's low

John McPoop (PSN:johnnynumber5) @ May 29th 2008 9:58PM

@Bannana Hammock Boat

If you had actually played the Beta you would know FPS mode can only be toggled while aiming as well ... Its not a fixed view ... That is unless the controls are tweaked for MGO

John McPoop (PSN:johnnynumber5) @ May 29th 2008 11:18PM

@Bannana Boat

Why does the PS3 not get credit for the multiplatform titles like the 360 does?

I can understand if you already have a 360 and you are not crazy about the exclusives on the PS3. But, remember that Microsoft had a full year where they were the only next gen platform that had games being released on it. The same great multiplatform titles can be purchased on the PS3. Obviously there is no point to own both consoles and just buy multiplatform titles. In fact, that would be retarded. However, whether you like the exclusives or not there are some damn good ones for the PS3. There is no need to make a list because you know the games that are highly rated. At this point the PS3 has a large crop of games that are in the 80 percentile in metacritic but not a lot of 90 percentile games.

name123 @ May 29th 2008 4:34PM

I've never doubted the PS3 because, as a mainstream gamer, the Xbox 360 has never been remotely appealing to me. If you're not into first person shooters, the appeal of the 360 drops to nothing.

deaftly @ May 29th 2008 4:40PM

Isn't it always funny how the ps3 fanboys always say the 360 has nothing but fps games, but lets take a look at the most hyped and highest rated ps3 games, Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone 2, MGS4 (with a fps mode), previously Haze, and another Socom coming out soon. I don't get it.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 29th 2008 4:42PM

I don't get it either. I mean, what's wrong with shooters anyway? Did they ONLY become a bad thing because PS2 wasn't known for them?

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 4:43PM

Well..the 360 does have some appeal outside FPS's...but everything else I agree.

Wishful thinking that the PS3 would fail. Wishful Thinking.

Now as to the poster before me, The PS3 has LBP, Uncharted, and MGS4 (It's hilarious that you attempted to name it a FPS when it hardly is). But I agree with you that it has several FPS that are its top games.

So, in conclusion, you were both right.

T H @ May 29th 2008 4:45PM

He swings!!! He misses.

MGS4 (is NOT a FPS, dont kid yourself), Final Fantasy XIII, God Of War 3, GT5, LittleBigPlanet?

Try again my friend.

deaftly @ May 29th 2008 4:47PM

I only mentioned MGS4 because even Kojima said you can play the game entirely from a FPS perspective if you want.

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 4:49PM

Thats true Kojima did say that...+1 for the Koolaid Man?

supakoopa @ May 29th 2008 4:53PM

Im not a big fan of my 360, and I place it way above my PS3. If Appel announces the second iPhone, I'm selling my PS3 right after I beat Metal Gear Solid 4.

name123 @ May 29th 2008 4:55PM

The way 360 owners try to pretend the 360 isn't catering to the hardcore, is as sad as the way Wii owners pretend Nintendo isn't targeting casuals.

Sony's approach is not perfect but it is the best.

T H @ May 29th 2008 4:56PM

Come on, you know he was referring to strictly, traditional FPS games. Even with a tacked on FPS mode, MGS4 is *HARDLY* an FPS.

And still, that's beside the point.. FPS games are not "the most hyped and highest rated ps3 games" like you so confidently stated- there is a much wider variety than you try to make it seem. Don't fan the flames with fallacies.

colinbell @ May 29th 2008 4:57PM

The PS3 is an impressive sales achievement - compared to the 360, $200 more expensive, a year' handicap in games, and most importantly the most vicious misinformation campaign possible.

Just for old times, check out this article:
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/617/617951p1.html
Some of the gems of the article:
The Xbox 360 CPU architecture has three times the general purpose processing power of the Cell.
The memory system bandwidth in Xbox 360 exceeds the PS3's by five times
The Cell processor...is of limited use for games.

And at the end of article, hidden away ewhere most readers wouldnt even see it is the comment "So, that's Microsoft's analysis."
A MS analysis, completely biased against Sony, but being disguised as "analysis"

Marty @ May 29th 2008 4:58PM

It's pretty refreshing to see someone in the company acknowledge what we all knew. And thought the PS3 has definitely gotten stronger since the "life support" days, I can't say that I think it's as strong as it should have been.

I still think that they should have released the system without Blue-Ray. The cost would have been significantly lower, they could have gotten it out the door faster, and and system production would have been cheaper and faster as well.

Had they done that, I dare say the 360 would be doing considerably worse by comparison at this point.

But I guess it's just water under the bridge, at this point.

CGamble20 @ May 29th 2008 4:59PM

Not a good point Name. That just starts flame wars!

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k259/Gamble20_2006/spanking.jpg

Noshino @ May 29th 2008 4:59PM

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120) @ May 29th 2008 4:59PM

I still don't follow why people continue to post replies to this stupid doorknob.

NATO_Duke @ May 29th 2008 5:05PM

Name, top acting like you have a damn clue what 360 owners think of their consoles. You don't even care - nothing people say matters to you and no amount of facts sway you from your delusional existence. The 360 (like the Wii) do a lot more than one game type, no matter how thick the blinders are that you wear.

You are an ignorant troll who only spews bullshit to fluff the PS3. A mainstream gamer my ass.

As always, you are a waste of internet bandwidth.

colinbell @ May 29th 2008 5:06PM

Well, the 360 does have a lot of games that arent "shooters"

But there are good reasons why it has that reputation. Firstly, 360 owners dont seem to buy anythings else.
The 360 sold 1.5-2 million odd copies of crap shooters like CoD3, Lost Planet, PDZ. And yet Lost Odyssey and Viva Pinata hardly sold any copies. Even Mass Effect sold just about 1.5mn on a massive base.

And secondly, shooters and especially Halo / Gears are central to some sense of suyperiority xbots have about their system. So any shooter that comes out exclusive on the PS3 gets derided for not being a "Halo-killer" (seriously. Was it even among the top five shooters of last year?) So obviously excellent games like Mass Effect or Crackdown get submerged. And also begs the question - where is the 360's FF-killer, God of war-kiler, ratchet-killer, GT-killer, LBP-killer, MGS-killer?

name123 @ May 29th 2008 5:07PM

MGS4 proves my point.

Even if you can play in first person nobody will.

Third person > First person

All the statistics support this.

arrrgh @ May 29th 2008 5:10PM

LOL @ sony's approach is the best.

Definitely explains the life support. I mean sony is ALWAYS the best right admiral fanboy? Just like with betamax or minidisc or the rootkit drm fiasco, or the sixaxis, or...wait

Dale @ May 29th 2008 5:20PM

All kinds of wrong.

1. I do not like console FPS games. The only one I have bought for the 360 is Bioshock, for its story and setting, not its control method.
2. Because of the limited time I have to spend playing games, I would consider myself more mainstream. I have found plenty to like on the 360.

The system's games line-up is not for everyone, I am not going to lie and say it has something for everyone. That being said, it is far from being a system dominated by the first person shooter genre.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 29th 2008 5:40PM

arggh, minidisc was actually quite popular in europe and especially prevelant in Japan. In America, we have the culture of simply burning a disc and admit it, aren't those highly disposable? Mini Disc in Japan became highly instrumental and remains a huge cultural influence today. Notice how it was featured in animes as old as Eva and as recent as Beck. I still have my minidisc collection today and still use my player.

Sean Newton @ May 29th 2008 5:51PM

Third person > first person? Puhlease.

I don't mind games that let you pick the perspective you want (gee, imagine that!) - but I take serious issue with having a good chunk of my screen tied up with my own character's backside, obscuring the targets and (most importantly) the people I want to shoot.

While this could be put down to 'poorly designed third person', I really would much rather have games let US decide which perspective we want to play in.

Sora267 @ May 29th 2008 6:04PM

"Sony's approach is not perfect but it is the best."

If Sony's approach were the best, then PS3's would be at the same price point as the Wii, would be topping the sales charts, would be cheap as dirt to make, and wouldn't be regarded as trash by 75% of the non-PS3 owning gamer population.

Maybe it's the best approach in theory, but then again, so is communism, and look how that turned out.

**NOTE: I'M NOT SAYING THAT THE PS3 IS RELATED TO COMMUNISM.

arrrgh @ May 29th 2008 6:21PM

Fid

I am well aware of the minidisc's popularity which got it....nowhere

I had 2 portable players and one Multitrack recorder that used the 4 track minidiscs...then the 1gb minidiscs came out etc, but the iSHIT destroyed it all. That;s like saying laser disc was doing well...

Compared to CD media, the newer DVD media and then Hard Disk storage, minidisc was introduced at entirely the wrong time. Could have been pretty viable if sony didnt try to hog the format all to themselves. If you do still listen to your minidisc, that's great.. I'll stick to my 30gb zen that does xvid/divx :)

SimbaDogg @ May 29th 2008 6:51PM

@deaftly
i'm sorry dude...
but "Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone 2, MGS4 (with a fps mode" compared to heavenly sword, uncharted, gran turismo prologue and motorstorm...without looking into it, i can tell you those are probably 4 of the top 5 exclusives for the ps3 thus far, and i think we all know sales generally=success=a good game. well, not always, u can always find games like haze, well...thats a failure, and its not going to sell...bad example. id say maybe halo 3 (i know theres people here that will disagree with me), i can't tell you how many people that i've talked to, who i agree with in saying "it was overhyped". #1 selling game of all time (prior to GTA4) and many people i know say they always wish they didn't get it.

xFenixKnightx @ May 29th 2008 6:58PM

namePS3

"Third person > First person"

Thats only true for Gears, you fail at the rest ;)

Whats so bad about shooters? FPS's and shooters in general are whats driving the HD consoles people. I mean look at Halo3, COD4, MGS4, Bioshock,
Gears 1 and 2, KZ2, R2, even Far Cry 2 looks to be amazing. These games are pushing the consoles and videogames even further as far as graphics, storytelling, and overall immersive experiences go. I'm all for it.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ May 29th 2008 7:26PM

I use my MD for road trips mainly in the car. That, and workout mixes. I have an MP3 player I've started to favor as well but people tell me it's shit. I snagged it on the cheap and it functions like a drag and drop player (Philips Jukebox 8gb with fm and I paid $30). My MD is also the easiest way I have to pull music from video games.

josh @ May 30th 2008 2:49PM

"#1 selling game of all time (prior to GTA4) "

there is no way halo 3 is the #1 selling game of all time... san adreas sold like 17 million copies, i though halo 3 was nowhere near that number. it had the best LAUNCH sales of any video game of all time, maybe. not overall.