EA's Glen Schofield hopes Sony can 'figure it out'
by Majed Athab 
{ Mar 3rd 2009 at 7:05PM } 
Speaking to GI.biz, EA Redwood Shores manager Glen Schofield expressed hope that Sony can figure out what to do with PS3's relatively high price tag in a time of economic woe. The conglomerate faces massive losses from its computer entertainment division and declining sales for its flagship console, but Sony doesn't seem to see a problem. Some suggest a price cut would be beneficial (and believe is actually on the way), but Schofield isn't sure it's the best direction: "You know, I can't tell them what to do. I don't know their finances."So what is Sony to do? It seems like the company is caught between a rock and a hard place. "They've been such a great, great partner," said Schofield. "I hope they get out of this and they figure it out and they're around for a long time." If outsiders like Schofield are worried for Sony ... imagine what its employees are feeling.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Cosmo @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:09PM
I believe Sony can't do much to reduce the price of the system further due to the Blu-Ray drive; correct me if I'm wrong. They've already cut out the memory card readers and PS2 compatibility to save on costs and energy consumption of the system.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:22PM
i can buy a Blu-ray reader drive for under $99 at retail. Sony can't possibly be paying more than $60 for the devices in bulk, likely much less. So even if you assume a DVD reader drive would be $0 instead, it can't really add enough to the price of the unit to make a PS3 cost $400.
The Blu-ray reader cannot be the entire problem. I think it's likely MS applies some of the revenues from their captive accessories market and $30-$50/year from gold members to defray the initial cost of the unit. Since Sony doesn't have either of these revenue streams, they cannot match on price.
Lieutenant @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:58PM
I think cutting out PS2 BC was less about cutting down the price of PS3 and more of artificially lengthening the PS2s lifespan. Xmas '07 the PS2 had over a million units sold where in '08 it didn't even sell half that amount. Still a respectful number of units for a 9 year old console but the tail end of it's life is deteriorating fast.
Almost every single exclusive on the PS3 uses more than 9gigs, same with the almost all multi-platform games. We'll probably never know how many of those legitimately use that space though, considering developers put duplicate data on the disc to shorten load times.
I don't think Sony is trying to compete anymore. I don't even think they should. Ride out the waves and cut the price when you can. Losing billions just for some marketshare may be better in the long run but the way Sony is atm it may leave a scar.
megapenguinx @ Mar 4th 2009 3:49AM
You don't want to cut down costs too much, Microsoft did that with the 360 and look where it got us. Faulty parts causing RROD's and E7 errors.
Although I agree, taking out the PS2 backwards compatibility was a terrible idea. You alienate so many people and games.
required @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:16PM
Wow, nearly as crappy as the iWheel! http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary
j.howlett @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:21PM
if ea hadn't put out lesser versions when ps3 launched maybe things would be a little different
Lieutenant @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:02PM
EA + every third party company known to man.
AoE @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:34PM
Oh c'mon dude. I hate EA as much as the next guy, but it wasn't their fault the Dreamcast died, and it's sure as hell not their fault that the PS3 isn't the dominant console this generation. To suggest it is just makes you look like a nutjob Sony fanboy apologist.
j.howlett @ Mar 4th 2009 12:23AM
if you half ass some off the top selling games on 1 platform people will start to stay away. why buy the ps3 version or ps3 if you get the better version elsewhere? if you have the ps3 why buy ea sports when sony has their own version except football? the orange box wasn't nearly as bad as trolls make it out but trolls harp on every little pixel plus no future support.
megapenguinx @ Mar 4th 2009 3:51AM
Tell that to the Wii and Chop til you drop.
When it comes to multiconsole releases it really gets screwed. Yet it's still dominating.
j.howlett @ Mar 4th 2009 9:37AM
is ea doing the numbers it would like on the wii? i know nintendo games do well because i have a few, but no ea games. i don't the the ps3 is in that bad a shape with sales but this ea guy thinks they are. i don't think chop till you drop is a game madden fans will clamour for yearly and this isn't the wii's first year trying to get ps2 madden fans to upgrade. capcom isn't refusing to work on the port of dead rising leaving it all up to ea. i wasn't talking about the $250 wii
MLC (PSN ID: Myke-Myke) @ Mar 4th 2009 10:58PM
I second that!!!
Insight @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:22PM
I was gonna say that Sprinkles could be used in the dictionary as the definition of 'pathetic' but there's no way all of his assorted names could fit in there.
And he gets dumber every time he posts. Anyone who disagrees with him is somehow a PS3 fanboy (watch him call me one even though I've owned a PS3 for a grand total of five days now). Anyone who thinks he's a dumbass is 'holier than thou' or something. I've never met a dumber commenter on any internet board.
And that's saying something.
Get this, kiddo. It is possible to like and enjoy more than one system. Your brain clearly isn't developed enough to understand such a concept, but those of us who are... I bet we're having more fun with gaming than you are. I know I am. Bought the PS3 on Friday (along with Killzone 2 and Burnout Paradise) and certainly haven't been disappointed. I doubt I will be, because unlike you, I actually KNOW something about the PS3 and what it can offer.
Way to make yourself out to be an idiot. Yet again. Like the attention? That must be why you keep coming back.
F.E.F Red Fury @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:24PM
I'm sure that Sony I'll have a price drop by the end of this year or earlier, I just hope that is not just 15% or 25% off the original price.
Cosmo @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:24PM
IMO, Blu-Ray has hurt the PS3 more than helped. Sony should have released games on DVDs like the Xbox 360 and released another SKU just to play Blu-Ray movies.
Almost all games don't take advantage of the extra space over two years after the system has launched, especially 99% of multi-platform games. Its what caused the PS3 to cost $500-600 at launch and cause its slow market penetration and then low developer support which kept aggravating the low market share. Its also caused the mandatory installs on many games due to the slow read speed of the drive. At least it is far quieter than the jet engine DVD drives in the Xbox 360.
arrness @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:38PM
I agree, but if not for blu-ray, we wouldn't have Killzone 2 or MGS4
Phantom @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:45PM
Blu-Ray actually reads faster than DVD, the problem is that is has to go through a lot more space, like finding a needle in a haystack.
AoE @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:26PM
@Phantom,
The 2x Blu-ray player in the PS3 is not as fast as the 12x DVD-Rom in the 360. Here, let me save you some googling:
2x Blu-ray - 72Mbp / 8MBps
12x DVD - 66 - 132Mbps / 8.2 - 16.5MBps
Blu-ray has a fixed transfer speed, DVD transfer speeds depend on where on the disk content that's being read is located. It's also worth noting, that as with all disc-based consoles in the past, publishers carefully map out the placement of data on the disks to optimize read times (long story short the 360 is most of the time reading the disk twice as fast as the PS3 reads it's media, but sometimes it slows down to as fast as the PS3.) Make sense?
Dan Rabot @ Mar 4th 2009 6:20AM
That's only because developers need to make their games available on ecksbawks to get the major revenue in, so if they're so big they're only gonna fit on a blu-ray they would lose out on all of those ecksbawks sales! - Multiplat games that is.
Now PS3 exclusives are AWESOME (except Haze - WTF happened there?) really take advantage of the extra space on the blu-ray.
We're also coming into the phase where developers are developing games on the PS3 and porting them over to ecksbawks, rather than the other way around as it has been the last few years. Once this way of working takes off properly multiplat games will be far better on the PS3 and will need to be compressed and "streamlined" to fit on a DVD (or two) for the ecksbawks.
Coupled with M$ money grabbing charges per disc bull, this will make "good" multiplat games more expensive to port over and release on ecksbawks - I dunno , they gonna charge you extra, or are they just not going to not bother porting and lose out on that revenue stream from the screaming ecksbawks kiddies mummies?
Final Fantasy will be the first of the major games to show this, I just sincerely hope M$ doesn't use all your Live reg fees to pay them to keep it to a single DVD, i don't want my copy to be less than the dev originally wanted because of M$'s cheap, old tat, storage media.
Do you guys keep your ecksbawks on top of your VHS players?
(although, I wouldn't keep an ecksbawks anywhere near any other electrical appliance for risk of it overheating.)
t_m @ Mar 4th 2009 8:20AM
well... linking PS3 and Blue-ray may have been detrimental to the PS3, but it probably helped Blue-ray win the format war with HD-DVD.
Which one is more valuable to sony at this point i couldn't say.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:25PM
So the Playstation tag is to be used for articles trolling Playstation customers?
Hey, I hope EA makes it through this. They've been such a great partner for Sony, MS and N, and they reported a $641M loss today, up from $33M in a quarter a year ago. Imagine what EA's employees must be thinking!
Cosmo @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:26PM
Just stop feeding the animal, don't even give one reply to it and it will die of starvation. I know its hard to avoid replying to it though. I just gave it a juicy morsel by typing this.
Insight @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:28PM
Maybe if we feed it enough it'll get it's fill and leave.
Moptimus Slime (Leader of the Taylor Swift Defense Force, Gobot in disguise) @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:28PM
Sprinkles, I believe you meant to link us to this video
http://g4tv.com/thepile/videos/36553/Sesslers-Soapbox-Killzone-Mailbag.html
Markez @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:28PM
Sprinkles you already posted this in another thread, essentially verbatim. Silly Sprinkles.
FeaturePreacher @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:32PM
It's so funny, cause it's so true.
sony boy @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:33PM
i know what they should do.
They should remove every frikin feature off the ps3 except gaming and bluray movies and music support and sell it like the xbox arcade.
Remove the wifi, bluetooth, internet feature, photos feature.
Sell it at like 300 or 250 bucks while still selling the regular 400 dollar ps3 for the people who want it all. Isn't that a good idea???
Phantom @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:47PM
Then they can sell Wi-Fi dongles and have people scream that they copied Microsoft.
AoE @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:18PM
@Phantom,
Um... so? People do that now. It doesn't really matter though, there's not a single feature, bit of hardware, etc. in any console that was divinely inspired, anyone who thinks the console makers don't crib from one another is enough of a fanboy that I'm willing to bet no one but other fanboys really pay them any heed.
AoE @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:18PM
Oop! also I should add that I think this is a fantastic idea... If anyone from Sony is reading this, do it and I'll happily buy one.
Dan Rabot @ Mar 4th 2009 6:31AM
It would suck bigtime to have wired controllers though.
At least we don't go through batteries like they're going out fashion or have to fork up yet more cash for recharger packs.
Who ever heard of a wireless device without a chargable power supply? Really?
Do M$ have some kind of deal with Duracell?
- I would like to see an "arcade" version of the PS3, just so the kiddies mums can see a bit of "PS3, only...£x.xx" on their TV's because that's exactly what roped in the mums to buy ecksbawkses this Christmas.
I wonder how many parents sighed this Christmas when their kids said...
1) Mum can I have some batteries for my controller, more, more, more.
2) Mum can I borrow your card to sign up to ecksbawks live?
3) Mum can we go to the games shop and buy a wifi adapter?
4) Mum I need a Hard Drive for my ecksbawks, has to be a Microshaft one though, yeah, one of those ludicrously priced ones.
5) Mummy mummy my ecksbawks had RROD'd?! Can you buy me another one? Please? They're only cheap! You might as well being as though you've already spent more on the extra stuff than the console in the first place.
.... more batteries please mummy!
Rob @ Mar 4th 2009 10:24AM
@Dan Rabot: "Who ever heard of a wireless device without a chargable power supply? Really? Do M$ have some kind of deal with Duracell?"
Lesse, Logitech Wireless PS2 Controller, Nintendo Wavebird, Pelican wireless controllers, Nintendo Wiimote...
Popfrogs @ Mar 4th 2009 11:46AM
@Rob: Yep, the Wii wins the "trying to destroy the planet" award for those alkaline-cell-preferring Wiimotes. I know people like to use rechargeables in them, I mean, it makes sense. But still, it was environmentally irresponsible to build those things without LiOn batteries inside.
Nate @ Mar 4th 2009 5:27PM
wait... remove software features? what sense does that make? oh, we'll just take out photo's and save money... on something that is free to put in. wifi? $20. blutooth? well, guess we'll have to take out sixaxis too (really... it's harder to use if you don't have wireless controllers). cut off a good chunk of gaming. internet feature? wait... what? take out online games? you're not thinking, and your not saying this right. Any features they can take out would substantially decrease the value, and they wouldn't make it back if they're going to cut prices on the console.
HitNRun @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:33PM
Congrats to Joystiq on not going the route of every other blog and turning this story into a price-cut pep rally. Regardless of the rah-rah BS like winning the console war, a price cut would harm, not help, Sony's financial position. Like it or not, they simply don't give a futz how many people own PS3s vs. 360s and Wiis right now when the company overall is swimming in red ink. They can't afford to navel-gaze about where they want their system to be in 2011.
Dan Rabot @ Mar 4th 2009 6:35AM
Indeed. I say no price cut, save themselves, look at the bigger picture and prepare for the long run.
Plus, Sony still makes a killing in japan, most of their financial worries are due to the currency drop, their wester market's value is directly related to the conversion rate and the effects of that have slashed their bottom line. However their Japanese revenue will remain unchanged, apart from the increase in PS3 and PSP sales.
digoxin @ Mar 4th 2009 5:39PM
@Dan
"...most of their financial worries are due to the currency drop..."
and
"However their Japanese revenue will remain unchanged"
You obviously don't know what you're talking about. Most of it is due to the global economic crisis and decreased consumer confidence in general. And thinking that their Japanese divisions aren't going through the same crisis is even more stupid.
TheEngineer @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:33PM
EDIT: Again: quite off-topic, mostly trollery.
Insight @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:35PM
That didn't even make sense.
Then again, when have any of your posts?
sony boy @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:35PM
Also, i blame the f___ing economy, too. Sigh, there's no edit button...
Killiam XXIII @ Mar 3rd 2009 7:38PM
SPRINKLES!!!!
Virtuous @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:10PM
Sony's best days are in the past. Sony squandered market leadership in video gaming and home entertainment. Nintendo, Apple, Samsung and others have passed by Sony.
Foetoid @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:34PM
*sigh* It aint BS the Ps3 will have a 10 yr lifecycle when you see the Ps2 is in it's 9th year omg. Just because Sony said the Ps3 will have a 10yr lifecycle, doesn't mean the Ps4 won't release in 3 years. It's exactly the same as the Ps2 still being released (and popular) and the Ps3 on the market too. The idiots on this site never cease to amaze me.
horngreen @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:24PM
Look on the bright side. I highly doubt Sony will F-up on the PS4...If Sony is even still around.
AoE @ Mar 3rd 2009 11:14PM
I dream of a world where Sony does so poorly that Sega/Sammy Holdings acquires them and we all get to play our Sega PS4s... totally a pipe dream i realize.
shadowhowl1900 @ Mar 3rd 2009 8:26PM
Well its not CAN sony figure it out but more like WILL sony figure it out before it quits
Kspraydad @ Mar 3rd 2009 9:04PM
Quick question...when comparing the same point in their respective life cycles (PS3 and Xbox 360) which console has sold best?
Exactly.
ifalldownstairs @ Mar 3rd 2009 10:59PM
so? He is talking about the fact that Sony (as a whole, not just the Playstation division) posted an absolutely incredible financial loss recently, not engaging in the petty fanboy squabbles you seem so intent to jump upon.
AkaMagi @ Mar 4th 2009 10:19AM
Quick question
How many more years are you going to use that excuse before you give up on it?
Funny how despite your claimed faster selling rate of the PS3, when the PS3 launched the 360 only had a 6 million unit lead, and today it has an 8+ million unit lead. Care to explain that one?
Kspraydad @ Mar 4th 2009 6:01PM
Actually...I was just providing the fodder...you're the ones acting like fboys.
Since Jan 2007 Xbox has sold 14.6 million world wide (to Dec 31 2008)
PS3 has sold 19.5 million over the same period.
Xbox has outsold PS3 by 7.2 million according to actual fiscal reports...this is less than what MS claimed was sold when PS3 launched but half a year later it was shown that MS was channel stuffing and not using sold through numbers in their reports.
TThe numbers presented are sold through numbers according to MS and Sony fiscal reports.
Make of it what you will though.
If game companies had no prob developing for X last year at 20million sold they shouldn't have a prob with PS3 at 20 million sold.
peace.