Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Vice President of Sales Ian Jackson has outlined further plans for the PlayStation 2. With Sony’s consoles struggling in all three major territories, the company is expanding its presence in Latin America.
Jackson brushed aside this week’s dismal NPD data for PlayStation hardware sales in October, pointing out that Sony’s long-term performance is still unparalleled. “We are going into our ninth Christmas with the PS2. Never been done with a console manufacturer in the history of the industry," he said. "Nine years in, and PS2 is still on the shelf this Christmas and is still selling very well, and as a matter of fact in a tight economy, is a great value proposition for the consumer.”
He went on to discuss Sony’s prospects in the southern hemisphere. “The significance of the Latin America market is huge. Obviously from a population standpoint I don’t think it’s a big secret that this is a huge opportunity. We will put a number of resources in place to cater to that market.”
“We’re now launching there," Jackson continued. "There are countries in Phase 1 Latin America that we’re aggressively gong after, and they include Chile Argentina, Columbia, and Peru.” Phase 2, slated to begin this month, will apparently include Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela, while Phase 3 covers Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil.
Jackson thinks the last of these markets is vital. "We’ve identified the Brazilian market as probably the biggest market opportunity for us, and that will be the third part of our launch which will take place over Spring 2009."