Gardner Question Time
Part one of our interview with Eidos CEO Bill Gardner.
At E3 last month GamesIndustry.biz had the opportunity to talk with Bill Gardner, who has been CEO of Eidos US since 2005. In part one of our interview he talks the new E3, why he thinks the PS3 is good value and the growth of digital distribution.
GamesIndustry.biz: So here we are at the new E3. What's your take on it?Bill Gardner: I personally wasnât really in favour of the original decision to kill E3, but it was a board decision that was made, and as a member of the board I went along with the majority. Frankly I think that from the industryâs perspective, [killing E3] is a problem... I donât think that this venue works.
Iâve been through all kinds of shows, from ECTS to Tokyo Game Show to the old IMA shows, and this is one that wonât work the way it is set up. Either you go into arguably the Las Vegas convention center kind of thing, and you try to keep a lid on it where you can get everybody into the same building, or you seriously have to think about quitting.
Eidos has previously announced intentions to hold off on PS3 releases until 2008. With news of a PS3 price cut, are you sticking to that? If we suddenly see a lot of PS3 sales this summer, will you have any titles ready for the autumn?We wouldn't have necessarily released day and date [of the PS3 launch]. Part of that has to do with the European nature of our company, in that Europe was four or five months behind the US with the release of the PS3.
Our original plans were to have product in the February, March, April time period, which would have coincided with the European release of the PS3. I donât like to release on day and date. Never have, anywhere Iâve ever been. I hate that, because there is a zero installed base on day one. I look at that, and Iâm trying to get part of the installed base. 20 per cent of zero? That's zero.
In terms of what our plans are, weâve been re-looking at when we are going to be releasing certain products. It should be before calendar 2008. I don't want to make an announcement on a date and on a product, but know there are things that will be ready before then.
But that gives the installed base a chance to get in there, it allows us to work with the toolkit, and we donât look like a hyped-up PS2 game coming out on the PS3. So, I think the decision was right, I support the decision 100 per cent, and was part of that decision-making process.
Everybody, obviously, canât do that, or weâd have a big problem [laughs]. I've lived to through that one. So, having said that, you know, somebodyâs got to be first. But I support the idea of not having to jump in there.
Do you think that the PS3 price drop is enough, or do you think they need more titles?Sony is a big company. They know what they are doing. I donât think it is enough to reach the mass consumer, but I think it is enough to get it moving again, and it will move a little bit further, and theyâll need to do it again and it will move a bit further.
I've been speaking to a number of people about this issue. Go buy an HD or a Blu-ray player. Go ahead. Tell me what it costs you. Then take a look at the PS3, and for argumentâs sake the Xbox 360, and ask 'Can I really get something that will play on HDTV at that price point? ' And the answer is, realistically, no.
If you go back to PS2, when they had the DVD on it...You know, when it first came out, people said 'Oh my God, look how expensive this is!' I didn't think it was that bad, because I got a DVD player out of it. And I had a game player in the house that the kids were in love with.
So, no, I donât think it is too expensive. I do think weâll start to see additional people pick it up and use it, maybe not necessarily exclusively as a game player but as a Blu-ray player and a game player, and there is an advantage to that.
Eidos announced that Tomb Raider: Anniversary would be released as a download for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live, and there is also a retail version coming later as well...Actually, they will both be released on the same date.
Why not offer it as a download only?No, no, no. Without going into detailed reasons, I can tell you there are development issues in there. You need to develop the product. You need to kind of have the whole thing ready anyway.
And it comes back arguably from the sales territory divisions who say 'Guys, this isn't going to make sense. Either we are going to do this and forsake that, or we are going to do both.' And if you are going to do both, they need to come at the same time, otherwise, retail wonât carry it. That's common sense.
Do you think digital downloads might bypass retail channels altogether in the foreseeable future?Let me tell you my experience, and what I've learned throughout all this. In the US, we don't have the infrastructure to support it. I'm not going to speak for Europe or for Asia, but in the US the infrastructure isn't there. It would take you nine hours to download a game, or more. I don't think our consumers want to go through that.
People still go to retail. You don't eliminate retail. That's the one thing you don't want to do. I think there's probably this combination of a little bit of retail and a little bit of download things that are going to continue to go on.
You said foreseeable future. I don't know where that is. I don't have a crystal ball, but I think retail wants to, and will continue to, play in this space. It is a good space for retail, and it is a good space for us. So, I don't think going in and doing something that will aggravate retail makes any sense whatsoever.
Bill Gardner is CEO of Eidos US. Interview by Mark Androvich. To read part two of this interview, visit GamesIndustry.biz next week.