Sony's Michael Denny
The WWS Europe boss on the cost of development and the uptake of Move
In terms of 3D it's something we believe in strongly and is something we're going to take forward. It's something we know is going to be an exciting consumer proposition and be a great experience for consumers so we don't have any issues in terms of the concerns you're raised there. From a first-party perspective what we're concentrating on is the experience we can give to the consumer that adds to games as it adds to movies. We believe the immersion in games is more than you can get from movies.
It's fair to say that a company like Sony will only invest and take forward products that they know are consumer friendly.
When you look at Sony's overall strategy for networked devices it's quite clear that in terms of the different products we want to put forward that having a common network feature would be something that would be very appealing. The PlayStation Network in our space has been a great success and we know that consumers love connectivity in devices. We need connectivity to create great services and great communities to add on to our products. I think going forward in that vein is something we'll want to pursue.
I agree that to have an MMO experience on console, particularly on console, would be fantastic. It is something we've thought about ourselves within Worldwide Studios and we've got Sony Online Entertainment who are the experts within Sony on that. I've mentioned before that we work closely with Sony Online Entertainment. When it's right, when it's the right content and the right time to announce, I'm sure we can make it work and have the right business models for an MMO, and it'll be something that we'll want to do and PlayStation fans will enjoy.
Firstly with the PSP it was our first attempt at a handheld console and with 60 million units-plus now it's been a great success for us. When you look at where we are this year, and the games we've introduced, you're right, many of them are for a younger audience. But we still have blockbuster games like God of War coming out for PSP, so when you marry that with the Essentials collection - 20 triple-A games there at £9.99, and another 20 that we've just announced, it's a great value proposition for people. Now, in terms of the minis selection of games that are downloadable, clearly the investment for developers in those games are a lot smaller. Again, we don't really set our development wishes by budgetary constraint. We want to be inspired by great games and compelling content that obviously we believe can be commercially successful.
Michael Denny is head of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe. Interview by Matt Martin.