As you guys are already aware, I got an opportunity to have a pretty lengthy chat with Atindriya Bose, PlayStation India Country Manager, on various topics ranging from the PS3 and PSP to PSV and PS4.
The current generation of hardware is aging out real fast, especially when one compares it with PC gaming. I asked Atindriya about Sony’s plan to announce a PlayStation 4 to which I got the following reply:
Too speculative. I think, with me being as a business head of a country, I will definitely not have an exposure to the development at such an early phase. Having said that I have a feeling that if you take a look at that the PlayStation 3 experience, the first four years have gone in to strengthening the positioning the PS3 among the core gamers, who still remain the heart of PlayStation. So PS3 is vouched for by the core gamers and we have created a very strong relation with them. Then came the motion sensing Move platform, so the PS3 with the Move reinvented the PS3, adequately broadening the market. If you look at it, the PS3 with a Move is itself is a seperate avatar than a standalone PS3, in allowing us to target and address the market needs of two seperate segments.
He then talks about how the PlayStation 3 has basically reinvented itself over the years by the continuous firmware upgrades.
If you look at the PS2. It is perhaps in its 12th year and it is still going strong internationally and in India its still the largest selling platform. Looking at such a longevity, I think there is excitement about newer technologies that will always be there, but if you look at how the PS3 has been built and how through the network system it can continously get upgraded. So the original PS3 has already reinvented itself a number of times. To make us say that the current PS3 is an entirely different avatar and has a pretty long cycle of being a core product. See, it started with a gaming device. It went in to a 3D playback device. Now it has become a motion sensing device, so there is a continous sense of re-invention that in anyway is happening. But the PS3 is a brand name we have invested in, but its bit too early to start speculating but in terms of technology addition, its journey showcases it is a continous reinvention process.
Stay tuned with us for more tid-bits on PS3 development, PS Vita and new details on a PS3 exclusive that many of you are not aware of.