Sony's CEO: Wii is a game device

by Randy Nelson on Jul 15th 2008 5:30AM

Sony Corp. chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer has something to admit: He's played a Wii. Sir Stringer also has something to report about Nintendo's console: it's "an expensive niche game device."

According to Bloomberg, Stringer made the statement last week while attending the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho ... far away from his home in England, where Wii is obviously going for a lot more than in the US. Actually, it's £179 with Wii Sports. PS3 is £289 and, according to Stringer, is "still the best way to buy a Blu-ray player." (Note: In addition to Blu-ray movies, PS3 also plays games.)

[Via Wii Fanboy]

Source

Tags: howard-stringer, nintendo, PS3, sony, Wii

Reader Comments (61)

Well Howie, unfortunatly, that niche is about 10x larger than whatever niche it is your product is aimed at.

this guy is a suit pushing sony's agenda.
same guy bragging they got TV's that NOBODY can afford.

I just want to point out that no one on Joystiq or the CEO of Sony apparently knows what the word 'niche' means.

Not a dis, just pointing it out. You are all in good company with a Fortune 500 CEO though.

Its funny, Sony was doing pretty well lately until yesterday pretty much. Glad to see they're back to their fuck up ways.

*referring to the Wii*
WHAT?!? A video game machine that does (almost) nothing but play video games?!?

IT'S HERESY!!!

Sony: 'Wii is a game device!'

Reggie: 'No shit Sherlock!'

Dose this mean the PS3 is an expensive niche NOT-Gaming device?

H.S. -Noooo, nintendo isn´t pwning us because we´re not even playing in the same league-

¬¬ yeah right.

I think the interview is a wonderful snapshot into Sony’s electronic priorities, since $199 is “too much” for Stringer to play video games, while $400-600 is a fine amount for a Blu-Ray player. What? You only want to play video games? What are you, a freak? Pay the toll and start buying Blu-Ray movies!