News

SCEE boss says Wii slump and PS3 upturn is good for publishers

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.