Sony’s Jack Tretton told TheStreet.com, perhaps disingenuously, that they were satisfied with their response from E3, despite being hounded by complaints about the $500 and $600 price. “We were really pleased. If we were trying to do a PR blitz on our announcements, we would have perceived it a little bit differently. But we really saw this as an opportunity to announce some very important details to the trade. And I think if you ask the trade, meaning the retail constituency and the third parties, they came away pretty pleased with how everything went.â€?
Tretton made an odd comparison between the next-generation Xbox 360 system’s price and the PS2, a current-generation system. “Well, I guess if price is the only consideration, then we’ve won the war, because we’ve got a $129 PlayStation 2 that outsells the Xbox 360 today. If you look at the cost of the components and more importantly, the value to consumers, you have everything in the box at $399 on the Xbox 360; and it still falls well short of what the PlayStation 3 offers at $499.”
Tretton shrugged off a suggestion that the 360’s early lead could make it difficult to catch up. “We weren’t first when we debuted the original PlayStation. We weren’t first with PlayStation 2. It ultimately came down to the system and what consumers preferred. At the end of the day, what you do in the first year, and whether you do 6 or 10 million units does not determine whether you’re successful or not. We’re looking to sell 100 million-plus worldwide. We’re looking to sell 50 million plus in North America. So, if a competitor gets to 6 to 10 million worldwide, I would not consider that to be a significant advantage or a significant disadvantage as far as we’re concerned.”
