ngmoco boss Neil Young has spoken to Industry Gamers at this year’s GDC, saying Sony’s successor to the NGP is “Dead on Arrival”, leaving no doubt as to where his feelings currently sit.
In what amounts to a precursor to the full interview, the report on IG shows what the man behind some of the biggest iPhone games thinks of Sony’s strategy, especially with regards to pricing. “I think they are hurt; I think they’re clearly hurt,” he said of the ‘traditional’ portable consoles.
“I think PSP is done and the new [NGP] is dead on arrival. It’s really difficult to compete with an App Store that has hundreds of thousands of applications and a wide range of options where the average price paid is around $1.20 and there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of free applications that are really high quality.”
“So I just don’t think Sony’s going to be able to compete with that.”
When asked whether he thought the ‘PS3 quality experience’ would offset any pricing issues, Young was equally determined. “It’s not a PS3 quality experience,” he replied. “And in terms of getting broad adoption, having great processing power is not necessarily a prerequisite for great adoption in the marketplace. You need a range of things and what I think the iPod Touch and iPhone have been able to do is offer people swiss army knife type functionality for a device that plays games really well.”
“It’s not like it’s crap at playing games,” he says of Apple’s device. “It’s pretty good at playing games and it can do a whole bunch of other things as well.”
It’s worth pointing out that Mr Young has a strong interest in the iPhone range, but those are strong words.
MXZ
I think Apple is just scared that Sony could eventually overtake them.
(Qriocity was recently released to compete with Itunes) and then theres the rumoured Sony tablet which would take on the Ipad.
Sony is going after every opponent there is and plans on destroying them (weather they succeed or not is questionable)
regarding NGP verse Iphone, id say im on the NGPs side.
i dont want purely minigames, i want full games like Uncharted and Yakuza.
if the NGP could dethrone the iphone then ill start cackling like a mad men in glee, but right now i just hope it lives.
(though id probably still enjoy having a zombie NGP)
RedStarGlow
Sony used to have a music store also… I can’t remember the name though since it went under. I don’t think Apple is “just scared of anyone”. Just like I don’t believe Android Market place or any other pretender will ever come close to the App store.
The Lone Steven
hmm, so according to him the “real games” are on the Iphone? BS. Sorry but the games he mentioned are designed to last for 10-20 minutes and that the fact that Apple allows people to develop apps for their devices. Also does he really think that companies are going to sell their games for £1.20 when it costs them a sh*tload of money to create. the NGP is a Portable games console which means it is designed to play games the iphone is not. So the NGP version does not have PS3 quailty grahpics?
I think this guy has managed to earn the number two spot in the gaming most hated people list:P. Does he realise that some of the apps are not games?
DrNate86
You’ve managed to discuss a quote that doesn’t exist there!
The Lone Steven
*rereads the article*FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU………
RedStarGlow
“I think they are hurt; I think they’re clearly hurt,” he said of the ‘traditional’ portable consoles.
I have felt this way for a while and I base it on my 3 kids. I look a what device they prefer to play on and the cost to acquire new software. I will simply say the idevices get a lot more play and the cost of new software is ridiculously low!! As it stands now, one kid buys it and all of them get it since they all ride on the same account.
The app store is a better model in my opinion. See, I did not speak ill of the dust covered PSPs or DSi(s) here at my house. Just like printers, phones, and other single purchase items – The real money is in the consumable items. In this case it is the apps $1.20 X 5,000,000 = A hell of a lot of profit.
RedStarGlow
I don’t know how well this works but it may address some of the controller concerns of the idevices.
http://www.icontrolpad.com/howitworks
SpikeyMikey23
Well he seems sure of himself. Would of paid more attention is it was the ghost of the ‘real’ neil young ;)
Mundham
The way this guy has gone off Like A Hurricane, he sure has the Needle with Sony, but it’s too early to tell if The Damage`s Done. He’s one Crazy Horse :-)