Sony Europe CEO and CFO Andrew House has played down rumors suggesting that the platform holder intends on cutting the price of PlayStation 3 in the immediate future, as well as brushing off reports of a successor to the PSP.
Speaking during a chinwag with VG247 at E3 this week, House didn’t mince his words in regards to a possible PS3 price cut: "I would say that we would have announced that today if we had plans to do so in the immediate future."
Rumors of a PSP2, meanwhile, have been doing the rounds for several months now, with recent reports claiming that the hardware could be unveiled at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September.
However, House asserted that Sony’s plans are very much focused on the technology available right now, with seemingly no plans to move in to next generation territory just yet.
"No plans to discuss anything around next generation right now,” he said. “I think it’s important that we keep our focus on building great content for the great devices we have out now."
When quizzed as to why PSP sales have been less than impressive outside of its native Japan, the executive went on to outline two key initiatives that aim to stimulate consumer interest in the handheld:
“One is a continued stream of good exclusive content – including that from first-party which we continue to work very hard on. But I think another important strand was something we announced fairly recently: the PSP Essentials line."
"I think it’s important at this point in the life cycle to show a broad range of consumers that this is a really good value proposition, and having a whole set of really good, proven quality titles available at $9.99 is really a powerful message," he added.