The president and CEO of Sony Corporation has offered his two pence as to why the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are both selling remarkably well this early in their market life.
Speaking to AV Watch (via DualShockers) Kazuo Hirai suggested that the company’s next-generation console, which has chalked up 4.2 million sales to date, isn’t performing well merely because it’s a new piece of hardware.
"As for games, as you can see the PlayStation 4 is an interesting platform, with interesting content, so if we can provide the new social aspect perfectly, there will be customers out there for it. I’ve seen this at launch. It’s not just for PS4, it’s the same for Xbox One," said Hirai-san.
"There’s also the opinion that “it’s selling well because it’s a new platform,” but Grand Theft Auto V sold eight million copies on existing platforms. It’s the same for consoles.
"I think, again, that the point is that customers evaluate on the “ability to move emotionally” of the content."
Hirai-san delivered a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, where the concept of ‘Kando’ (Japanese for ‘ability to move emotionally) was touted numerous times. It’s hardly a new philosophy however, with many companies adopting it for their marketing strategies.
A veteran of the PlayStation brand, Hirai-san joined the newly-formed Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) in 1995 and went on to have an integral role in the success of the PlayStation 2, and later, the PlayStation 3. He was appointed the role of president and CEO of Sony in April 2012.