The hilarity surrounding the Xbox One launch should not be understated. “Tv, tv, tv,” is what most of us heard during the launch of Microsoft’s latest console, and we weren’t impressed. Sony’s picked up on this and its CEO Kazuo Hirai, speaking from the AllThingsD conference in California, promotes the PS4 as a gaming machine first.
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“I fundamentally believe that the initial market that we need to make sure we appeal to with any new platform… is really the gaming audience. They will be the supporters of your platform and they will help propel the installed base.”
When the PS3 launched in 2006, Sony promoted both the content-sharing, apps and gaming side of the console. Now though, Sony has its eyes on the prize and will instead hone most of its efforts towards the promotion of games reports Venturebeat. It’s a powerful machine in 2013, so it’s going to have most of the apps we’ve come to expect on our tablets and smartphones, but promoting the PS4 as an “all-in-one” console will only come later on. Kazuo drives the point home. “But that’s after we establish the platform as a video game platform. We want to make sure that we are there for the gamers with our PS4 as well. They will go beyond this, but they’ll definitely start with gamer first. For us, it’s all about the gamers.”
All about the gamers. This makes a refreshing change from the above mentioned Xbox One launch disaster that saw Microsoft emphasize the magic of TV over gaming. If we did a direct comparison to each launch event, Sony’s was all about the games to the degree that the console wasn’t even featured. Sony has a rich legacy of original games, but so does Xbox. If Microsoft continues to push its machine as the complete package, it’s going to alienate its already poor Asian customer base even further. Games first Microsoft, games first.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
