Joystiq

Sony Network Entertainment president Tim Schaaff retires, House to fill in

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:00:00 EST

Tim Schaaff, president of Sony Network Entertainment, will retire on December 31, to be replaced by Andrew House, Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. House will keep his position with SCEI, and Schaff will become an external director on the SNEI board of directors.

The SNEI president manages online services, and Schaaff was president during the 2011 PSN hack. He appeared before Congress to present Sony's security plans at the height of that particular scandal. House became group CEO of SCEI in September 2011 when Kazuo Hirai left that position for a promotion to chairman.

"Under the leadership of Kaz, and Sir Howard Stringer before him, Sony gave me tremendous support to build a global team to coordinate and lead the company's network service business," Schaaff says. "Together we created something of significant value that will be an important part of Sony's future. I'm grateful to have had this unique opportunity, proud of the commitment my team has demonstrated, and encouraged about Sony's prospects in this strategic area."

Sony Network Entertainment president Tim Schaaff retires, House to fill in originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's House: Gaikai expansion to other Sony platforms 'absolutely' possible

Jordan Mallory — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:00:00 EST

Assuming it successfully clears all of the regulatory hurdles that govern these types of deals, Sony's $380 million acquisition of Gaikai (and the mysterious cloud gaming service borne from said purchase) may eventually benefit the electronics megalith's non-dedicated-yet-gaming-capable devices like cell phones, internet-connected televisions and Blu-Ray players, waffle irons, etc.

Migrating Gaikai's capabilities to those devices is "absolutely within the frame," according to Sony Computer Entertainment president/CEO Andrew House, speaking with the Wall Street Journal. "It's recognition on Sony's part that the cloud and cloud streaming technologies are going to have profound and possibly a very positive impact on not only our game business, but also in the way our consumers interact with and obtain content in general."

Of course, the world still has no idea what this partnership actually means in practical terms, but its nice to know that we may soon have a Blu-Ray player capable of playing modern video games. Oh wait.

Sony's House: Gaikai expansion to other Sony platforms 'absolutely' possible originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kaz Hirai drops some titles at Sony, still president

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:50:00 EST

One morning, Sony president and CEO Kaz Hirai woke up and said, "I probably have too many titles." Beyond being the president and CEO of Sony Corporation (the umbrella parent company of PlayStation, Bravia, and many other Sony brands), Hirai is also "representative director" and "chairman" - until today, that is. Hirai is relinquishing his responsibilities and titles for both his positions as representative director and chairman of Sony Corp.

Hirai is dropping both titles and responsibility in today's move, only remaining on Sony's board in a "part-time capacity." He became president and CEO earlier this year, taking over former CEO Howard Stringer's spot in early February. Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House is taking over the vacated chairman position, effective this month, and former Sony Corp. head Howard Stringer is also exiting his board seat.

In case the bizarre-looking hierarchy isn't clear enough, this means that Andrew House - the guy who runs the PlayStation brand - is the head of Sony Corp.'s board, followed by eight Japan-based Sony Corp. employees. One of those is his boss, Kaz Hirai. Yup.

Kaz Hirai drops some titles at Sony, still president originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Too soon: No plans for next PlayStation at E3, Hirai says

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

Kaz Hirai, Sony's... um, let's just call him "Mega EXEC" for now, said the company will not announce the PlayStation 4 at this year's E3. The Wall Street Journal reports Hirai is sticking to the 10-year life cycle for the PlayStation 3 and currently sees no need to replace it.

"Andy (House) is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3," Hirai said at a CES roundtable with press, referring to statements made by Andrew House that there's no PS4 plan for E3.

Meanwhile, over at the other console manufacturers: Whispers of an Xbox tease at CES never occurred, with current chatter of the next console's details being "rumor and speculation." Nintendo will certainly go big at E3 this year with the Wii U, after revealing the hardware at the prior show, and getting ready for the console's launch later this year.

Too soon: No plans for next PlayStation at E3, Hirai says originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hirai promoted to Chairman of SCEI, House becomes CEO

JC Fletcher — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:30:00 EST

Just one day after announcing a new board member, Sony revealed a bit more corporate shuffling, this time at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Kazuo Hirai, formerly President and Group CEO (and chief apologizer), has been promoted to Chairman, effective September 1. SCEE president Andrew House will take over as Group CEO of SCEI, with SCEE Executive Vice President Jim Ryan taking over his old job at SCEE.

While this may seem like an inopportune time to reward executives with promotions, the shifts were prompted by the retirement of current Chairman Akira Sato effective August 31. Also retiring: Ken Kutaragi, who left his role as Honorary Chairman of SCEI yesterday, presumably finding the honorary demands of the position too honorarily strenuous. He will remain at Sony Corporation as "senior technology advisor."

Hirai promoted to Chairman of SCEI, House becomes CEO originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NGP games will be downloadable day-and-date with retail releases

Randy Nelson — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:24:00 EST

SCEA hasn't managed to deliver all PSP UMD releases digitally -- let alone simultaneously with retail -- and even said the likelihood of making such parity would be several years off. That doesn't appear to be the case with PSP's sucessor, the NGP, based on comments made by SCEE president Andrew House.

"One thing we learnt from PSP, is that we want to have simultaneous delivery in digital and physical for NGP," House told MCV. "Just to clarify that, all games that appear physically will be made available digitally."

While that's certainly positive news, we're still waiting on word about Sony filling in the gaps on downloadable PSP back-catalog games -- which will run on the NGP, some with patched-in support for the handheld's second analog stick. Then there's the matter of the system's proprietary flash storage media, needed to store downloaded games, being a bit fuzzy. In short: Sony still has a lot to explain about its powerful new portable.

NGP games will be downloadable day-and-date with retail releases originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony 'studied the possibility' of 3D in NGP, decided against it

Ben Gilbert — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:30:00 EST

We've covered an awful lot of Sony news over the last 15 or so hours -- 23 posts thus far and counting, including this one -- and not once did the company bring up its 3D efforts. The entire NGP announcement has remained mysteriously devoid of one of Sony's biggest talking points of 2010, and Sony Europe head Andrew House has an explanation for why that is. "We view 3D as having the greatest potential, in the near term, in what I would call a dedicated entertainment environment," he told Eurogamer.

House continued, "That's in the home, around the television, and where it's a shared experience. I think that's really important." A statement from Sony clarified that, "In the development process, we had studied the possibility of introducing stereoscopic 3D feature to NGP, but decided not to install it."

House added to that, needling Sony's handheld gaming competition a bit in the process. "We struggle a little bit to see how that 3D, shared experience translates to portable devices as they currently stand." Perhaps he was holding the 3DS at a weird angle? We can't be sure.

Sony 'studied the possibility' of 3D in NGP, decided against it originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NGP battery life likely comparable to PSP

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:39:00 EST

A 1UP report quotes Sony head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida saying that the NGP handheld will have "about the same [battery life] as the original PSP." The PSP's battery life varies considerably from around 3 hours if the UMD disc drive was whirring away, to much longer if played off flash storage. Sony's official estimate for average PSP operation time is 3-5 hours.

Meanwhile, Eurogamer has Sony Europe honcho Andrew House saying the device will have a "good, solid battery life because of two factors." The dual delights of life extension are apparently the card-based media (instead of UMD, which requires moving parts) and the OLED screen. Those potential power savers are joined by energy-sapping features like a four-core CPU, 3G, and other factors, helping explain the PSP-like battery life.

NGP battery life likely comparable to PSP originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony wants NGP hardware to be profitable and affordable

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST

The more responsible gaming hardware enthusiasts among you have probably reserved your excitement over the recently announced NGP until you learn the device's ever-important launch price. Given the impressive specs of the handheld -- as well as Sony's infamous tendency to overcharge for its new gaming hardware at launch -- we wouldn't blame you for worrying. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Andrew House recently provided Eurogamer with the first potential hints about the console's MSRP, saying, "I can't put a ballpark on it in terms of figures, but what I would say is that we will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space."

However, Sony's not going to be giving the things away; House also shot down a Eurogamer source who claimed Sony would be selling the device at a loss. House explained, "we would want to have our hardware be profitable, in addition to our software," later adding, "We've experienced both sides and we know which one we like to be on!" That seems like a tricky balancing act: How exactly is Sony planning on introducing new (assumedly high-investment) technology at an affordable consumer price point and still hope for the NGP to remain profitable? Wizardry? Alchemy? Both?

As far as a firm number, Game Informer was the only outlet able to get anything out of Sony's biggest wigs -- when GI brought up the enormous launch price of the PS3, Sony Computer Entertainment president of worldwide studios Shu Yoshida laughed, and replied, "It's not going to be $599." We're glad events unfolded in that order -- had he said "It's not going to be $599," then laughed maniacally, we would have started to get really nervous.

Sony wants NGP hardware to be profitable and affordable originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All NGP models include Wi-Fi, 3G available in certain SKU

JC Fletcher — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST

Either there's a bit of confusion between regions, or Sony will offer NGP system variants with different communications capabilities in certain regions.

Europe will have the choice of 3G-equipped or Wi-Fi only models, SCEE president Andrew House told Eurogamer. "The first thing to clarify, which I'm not sure the presentation did a perfect job of doing today, is that all of the devices will have Wi-Fi capability; a separate SKU will have 3G," House said. The Kindle offers a similar choice, as does the iPad and even the iPhone/iPod Touch.

However, ITMedia reports through Twitter that all Japanese NGP systems will offer 3G. Whether there's a requirement to sign up for service with purchase, and what the available plans are, is currently "undetermined." No announcements have been made as of yet for North America.

All NGP models include Wi-Fi, 3G available in certain SKU originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Move sales around 1.5 million in Europe, 300K estimated for US

Richard Mitchell — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:56:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

It seems that Sony settled on the right name for its PlayStation Move motion controller, as the company is definitely moving plenty of units in Europe. Speaking to Bloomberg, Sony Europe's Andrew House noted "very significant sales" for the Move, saying that it has sold "somewhere in the region of 1.5 million units for the new controller across just Europe." He added that sales have exceeded Sony's original hopes, and that the company will likely increase production of the peripheral.

Sales may not be as motivated in America, however. In a report released to the media, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter estimated that the motion controller sold around 300,000 units in its US debut, including Move console bundles; though it's important to note that SCEA has not released official sales figures. Despite the sluggish launch estimate, Pachter expects both the Move and Kinect to drive console sales in the US this holiday season.

Move sales around 1.5 million in Europe, 300K estimated for US originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony 'exploring' idea of Online Pass style system for its titles

Randy Nelson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:50:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, SCE Europe boss Andrew House has suggested that the company is taking a serious look at implementing something similar to EA's Online Pass -- which requires those who buy its titles used to pay $10 to play them online -- with its first-party games. "On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we're broadly supportive of that," House said. "And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content."

House admitted that such a system could be perceived as contradictory to Sony's long-running pitch of PlayStation Network's free online play model. "In terms of just a charge for basic online play, that's something that we have to talk about a lot more," he said. "We struggle with [that] a little bit because we feel very vindicated and base a lot of the success of PSN today -- a 70 percent connection rate across consoles -- on the fact that we've removed that major initial barrier to entry."

Still, Sony has already dabbled with charging to enable online play for used (or, in the following instance, likely pirated) PSP titles like SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3. In this case, the game included an online activation code which, if already used or otherwise non-existent, could be replaced for a $20 fee.

Sony 'exploring' idea of Online Pass style system for its titles originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony: PSP Go 'experiment' revealed consumers' love of physical media

JC Fletcher — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:29:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Speaking to MCV, SCEE CEO Andrew House categorized the digital-only PSP Go as an experiment of sorts. "One of the reasons we launched PSP Go was to understand where that consumer behavior was going," House said. "We were getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted. But we need to recognize that consumers like their packaged media library."

Of course, House is omitting most of the reasons that the PSP Go isn't the best value proposition. Sure, people like to collect and display game cases and other retail bonuses. But they also like buying games on their release dates, rather than several weeks later -- or not at all -- as is the case with many digital versions of PSP games. They also like having the choice between digital and packaged versions of games, as is possible with every version of the PSP hardware but the Go. What they don't like is paying an $80 premium for the privilege of being limited only to digital releases.

We admit, we haven't commissioned as much research into consumer behavior as Sony has -- but we think we have a handle on this particular phenomenon.

Sony: PSP Go 'experiment' revealed consumers' love of physical media originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SCEE president alludes to upcoming paid PSN subscription option

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:00:00 EST

Even though Sony officially "won't comment on rumors or speculation" regarding a paid PSN offering in the near future, Sony Europe president Andrew House gave a bit more substantial answer in a recent Q&A on the UK PlayStation site. When asked outright, "Will PlayStation Network become a paying service?", House responded, "Kaz Hirai stated a few months ago that we were looking at a premium service to sit alongside the current free service and that objective has not changed. You'll learn more about it very soon."

He went on to console potentially upset readers with the knowledge that "the current PSN as you know it will remain a free service." That said, it seems like times are a-changin' for Sony's online network, and some (if not all) of the claims in our recent report on a "PSN+" service may come to pass in the not so distant future (cross-game chat, anyone?). If we were bettin' folks, we'd bet that not so distant future will start around the time of E3.

[Via 1UP]

SCEE president alludes to upcoming paid PSN subscription option originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 May 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSP Go isn't cannablizing PSP sales, House says

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

For those of you out there on your third or fourth sleepless night, unable to catch some Zs for worry that Sony is losing money on its physical-media PSP models to the PSP Go, it's time to rest easy. Sony Europe head Andrew House recently told GamesIndustry.biz that digitally distributed titles are "additive to the business." Better yet, newer PSPs aren't eating older ones. "I don't think there's been a huge amount of cannibalization." Okay, okay, he's talking about PSP Go sales proverbially "eating up" PSP-3000 sales.

He even goes as far as to state that "those sales [PSP Go sales] have come in and lifted overall PSP sales" - something we've heard stated before by execs at Sony Europe. We're not exactly sure what the strategy is behind using your new $250 PSP to sell your old (and arguably more feature-rich) PSP-3000, but we're still hopeful that Sony sees a long-term plan where we see a really expensive, download-only handheld.

PSP Go isn't cannablizing PSP sales, House says originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony: PS3 price cut not due to 'market conditions,' more social networking features on the way

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:30:00 EST

Though the world economy is crumbling faster than a three-year-old sugar cookie lying on the floor of a jam-packed mosh pit, the recent cheapening of the PS3 shouldn't be attributed to current market conditions. Don't believe us? Perhaps you'll pay heed to the words of SCEE president Andrew House, who explained, "We are aware that consumers are watching their euros and pounds more carefully than before," but later added, "it would not be fair to say [the PS3 price cut] is a reaction to current market conditions." See? We told you.

This quote came in the middle of an interview with Financial Times -- an interview in which House would later mention that Sony is planning on implementing additional "social networking features" into the platform. Financial Times' write-up mentions a possible "tie-up with popular sites such as Facebook," but heck -- we'd be content with just being able to, y'know, talk to each other regardless of what games we're playing.

[Via Edge Online]

Sony: PS3 price cut not due to 'market conditions,' more social networking features on the way originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digital Reader brings comics to the PSP this December

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:50:00 EST

After trotting out a mess of new information about PlayStation Home earlier today in Germany, SCEE prez Andrew House announced Sony's upcoming digital comics initiative on the PSP, the Digital Reader. According to House, Sony has worked out plans with Marvel to launch with "hundreds available, including the Marvel Comics stable."

Additionally, the service will give PSP-owning comic fans access to Archie and Image comics. Unfortunately, he didn't specify if the service will be a free firmware upgrade to the existing PSP software or pricing for the comics themselves. But alas, GamesCom has just started! We'll poke around and see if we can get some more information as soon as the Sony press conference ends.

Digital Reader brings comics to the PSP this December originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SCEE: PSP Go takes advantage of early adopter 'premium'

Andrew Yoon — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:30:00 EST

Michael Pachter retracted one of the most correct statements he's ever made: the PSP Go is a "rip off" for consumers. The PSP Go takes away the expensive-to-manufacture UMD drive and replaces it with cheap flash memory -- and yet it still costs more than the current PSP-3000. Fun fact: You can buy a standard PSP and 16GB Memory Stick Duo Pro right now for less than a PSP Go.

Sure, the new form factor looks nice, but Sony should have no manufacturing costs to pass down to the consumer. MCV asked SCEE's Andrew House if R&D or retailer markups were the reason behind PSP Go's high price. "Those aren't the factors," House admitted. "When you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account."

Essentially, House is admitting you can charge more for technology when it's new. It's unsurprising, but it certainly leaves a bad taste knowing Sony can easily charge less for the PSP Go. Perhaps Sony will follow the iPhone's footsteps and suddenly drop the price of the PSP weeks after early adopters pay their "premium" price.

SCEE: PSP Go takes advantage of early adopter 'premium' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony: Motion Control in development since the days of EyeToy

JC Fletcher — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:15:00 EST

The PlayStation Motion Controller may not be as much of a me-too product as some may think, despite being introduced the day after Microsoft's new camera-based motion control device, and several years after Nintendo's. Sony's Andrew House told GamesIndustry.biz that the device has been in development for years:

"It's been a while. If you want to track it back the team has been working on that since the days of the original EyeToy." The EyeToy was released in 2003. That's more than enough time to come up with a name for the motion controller.

House told GI that bundling Motion Controllers in with every PlayStation 3 was "possible, but spring is a long way away." He declined to discuss price, again due to distance from release date.

Sony: Motion Control in development since the days of EyeToy originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New SCEE head thinks Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3

Majed Athab — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:30:00 EST

The new president of SCEE, Andrew House, isn't wasting any time taking over the reins from David Reeves and causing a stir. After having been in his new office for only a little over a month, House is already making daring statements, telling Edge-Online that he believes Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3. His logic is based off prior figures that pit the lifecycle of PS2 against that of N64 (he probably meant GameCube), citing Nintendo's console as the "entry level gaming device" and that data suggested consumers planned to "upgrade to a more powerful machine [read: PS2] later in the lifecycle when the price point was right for them."

That's a rather interesting thing to say because, frankly, for most people, the price of the PlayStation 3 isn't anywhere near right just yet. Of course, House's scope is for the long-term and about inevitable future price cuts, but there's one thing he forgot to factor in: Microsoft. What's stopping people from upgrading to the Xbox 360, especially since Microsoft has drastically taken up a bigger share of the market since the last generation?

New SCEE head thinks Wii owners will eventually 'upgrade' to PS3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Andrew House replaces David Reeves as President of SCEE

Jem Alexander — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:30:00 EST

David Reeves (pictured) -- President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe -- will be stepping down and retiring, as of April 30 after 14 years at the company. Reeves will be succeeded by Andrew House, the current Chief Marketing Officer from May 1. House has been at Sony for 19 years, bouncing between Sony Corporation, Sony Japan, Sony America and, now, Sony Europe.

"It has been a wonderful ride with PlayStation," said David Reeves. "I never got to visit all 106 countries but managed 66. I have just two things to say on leaving: I want to thank all of those people who have supported SCEE and me personally in the past 14 years; you have been magnificent!" Likewise, Andrew House is "delighted to return to the PlayStation fold and excited to take on this new challenge. I have strong ties to the interactive entertainment industry and I believe there is huge potential for further growth of our business in the Europe/PAL countries and regions, particularly in the area of networked entertainment."

We wish David Reeves good luck on his future endeavors and look forward to seeing how things change under House's leadership. Are we the only ones picturing Andrew House with a cane, gammy leg and a wicked temper? Thought not.

Andrew House replaces David Reeves as President of SCEE originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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