Sony Europe chief Andrew House has described the PlayStation 3’s increased performance at retail combined with the slump in sales of Nintendo’s Wii platform as a positive outcome for third-party publishers.
Speaking to GI.biz, House commented: "I think at a time when we’re seeing one of the major competitors somewhat losing a sense of momentum – at least in many of the markets I’ve looked at – it’s gratifying to see a platform that’s always had a very significant share of sales go to third party publishers capture that momentum again.”
“The knock-on effect can only be a positive one if publishers are making up 75 per cent of the sales on a particular platform, as opposed to a much smaller share elsewhere, then that’s the platform I think it’s in their interests to see succeed – and I think that’s the dynamic we’re seeing return right now,” he added.
Touching on the PS3’s performance at retail, House – unsurprisingly – attributed the spike in sales to the lower price point, noting folk have been commenting that the high end machine is now selling at the price they had hoped for:
"People have been telling us we’ve reached the price point they were hoping for, and as a result we’ve got the wind in our sales – that the market really is there for the PS3 to command," said House.