Sony Boss: “For Us, It’s All About The Gamers”

[drop2]Sony boss Kazuo Hirai has said, speaking at the D11 conference today, that the PlayStation 4 will be “all about the gamers”.

“I fundamentally believe that the initial market that we need to make sure we appeal to with any new platform,” he said, “is really the gaming audience.”

“They will be the supporters of your platform and they will help propel the installed base.”

Hirai also acknowledged that whilst the PlayStation 4 would have non-game applications, they won’t be emphasised at this stage in the console’s reveal process – that’s in stark contrast to the way Microsoft presented the Xbox One last week.

“After we establish the platform as a video game platform,” he said, speaking about when the company might start to introduce those apps. “We want to make sure that we are there for the gamers with our PS4 as well. They will go beyond this, but they’ll definitely start with gamers first.”

Both consoles are expected to release later this year.

Via VentureBeat.

30 Comments

  1. That’s what I want to hear!

    • My thoughts exactly! Viva la PlayStation!

  2. It’s easy patter though, still need hard facts about pre ownership etc..

    • I don’t know about that. Even if the pre-owned systems were the same for both consoles, it’s either PS4 or Xbox One, and I know more about PS4, it’s functionality ‘as a games console’ and the kind of brilliant gaming (indie/PC/exclusives) we can expect.

      I’m not sure Microsoft can repair the damage [of it’s gaming image] when it has gone full force with the philosophy of it’s console, namely TV, Sports and CoD.

      Personally I think Hirai is just re-affirming what most of our impressions about PS4 have been; it’s a gaming machine.

    • Well, maybe, but it’s clear which path Sony has taken & which MS. And I’m with Sony.

  3. I said something similar after the One reveal, the millions of people who bought their 360 didn’t get it to watch TV/films, they bought it to play games. They may use the on demand TV or film downloads, as its convenient, but nobody is going to buy the Xbox One unless they want at least some games functionality. Predicting sales to get to 300million us incredulous.

    • Going to have to be cheap or have a very good USP and I don’t think Kinect 2.0 is that USP.

  4. At least Sony seem to have their priorities right and recognise the core value of it’s gamers above all the other media trickery the PS4 is capable of.

  5. So it’s a next-gen games console that will also do other stuff? Cool.

    • That pretty much wins me over. Yeah. :-)

      • MIcrosoft have a box that does other stuff that plays games,

      • It’s weird, tuffcub. Both might be very equal when looking back at the games that appeared but because Sony and Microsoft have taken a different approach to marketing the initial details it means that it’s shaped things hugely for us gamers (and equally, non-gamers).

        I’m very disappointed about the Xbox One so far as I thought it would be something I’d pick up a couple of years in – it still might be – but right now, it’s a huge “no” and will continue to be so for quite some time.

  6. Hopefully this is true and not just sales talk.
    Both consoles will be games consoles predominately though. Sure, Microsoft seem intent on muscling in on other markets at the same time, but both platforms will have plenty of cracking games to experience – at least, I hope so as I put my pre order down for the X1 this evening… ;-)

  7. HOLD ON! whats this a games console that you can play GAMES on!

  8. Well done Sony, I’m hearing all the right things so far. It might be bullshit but at least they know what to tell their customers.

    Very much looking forward to the PS4.

  9. I’m hearing the talk from Sony, but finding it just a tad hard to swallow.

    As a PSP owner, i eagerly awaited an influx of games from Sony, when the device was ‘failing’ somewhat, yet all i seemed to be hearing about was hardware revisions, extra Ram for Skype, add-on devices like the camera, the GPS, how it was your MP3 player, your movie player, your digital comics reader etc etc.

    The PS3, why it only did everything…….which included games.

    Even as far back as the PS2 Sony were looking at making it your 1 stop, set top box with the PS-X.

    It was only with the 1st Playstation that Sony seemed to scorn other consoles multi-media functions, describing the 3DO as ‘The Swiss Army Knife Of Gaming’:It has a knife, a fork and a spoon, but you would’nt want to eat your dinner with it, was Sonys line back then.

    Until they annouce just what their stance is regarding used games (i.e would we not see any fees on games from Sony’s in house-teams, but could very well see them on say E.A games?) these ears are’nt really listening.

    • While the PSP situation might be true, I think Sony learned from that. Vita was/is having a hard time but they didn’t give up; instead, they are pushing software onto the platform like never before and it is showing :)

    • Weird, I thought the PSP had a huge catalog of games… ; )

    • I’d agree but the home console always appears to be far better looked after than anything else. It smacks of Sony (Playstation) being able to look after one console properly but not having the resources to give something like the PSP or Vita equal amounts of love. A shame to be fair.

  10. This is good! Like many have said, I want a next generation ‘Games’ console – Once this is achieved then any extra add-on’s involving TV, Videos, Music or Web Browsing is a bonus. Any other physical add-on’s like breasts or beer serving capabilities would also be another bonus.

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