Andrew House, the Sony top executive who took another swipe at Microsoft and the Xbox One from the stage at Gamescom, has explained why Sony has made such arch references to the competition at its showcase events. Basically, Microsoft made them do it.
“We constructed our E3 presentation because there was somehow a suspicion that the policies and approaches taken by our competition would create an industry trend in that direction,” House, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment, told The Guardian this week.
“Given the speculation that was happening there, it apparently became necessary for us to make a statement and say what our intent was,” he added. House said Microsoft’s debut Xbox One event, in late May, portended an all-digital future, for all of gaming, in which gamers’ rights to the media they purchased would be sharply curtailed.
Let’s rewind. Sony was facing questions about used games on the PS4 going back to February, when it unveiled the machine. In late May, after Microsoft’s Xbox One debut event, there was still a lot of uncertainty about the PS4’s posture on connection requirements and game sharing. Sony was facing rumours that the PS4 also had anti-used games DRM, enough to get Redbox, the kiosk rental service, to try to mobilize gamers against both console makers. Sony had plenty of opportunities to clear all of this up, but didn’t.
They didn’t because they aren’t idiots. They didn’t want to stake themselves out to any position until they knew Microsoft’s too. When they saw the intense core gamer backlash to Xbox One’s more odious features, they waited — as damn well they should have — for a showcase like E3 to drop the hammer. I mean, how is this video anything but a shot at Microsoft?
None of this changes the fact that, yes, Sony clearly outmaneuvered Microsoft and even forced it to backtrack on its policies. That’s an unmistakable win. I don’t buy it that Sony did so to prevent a rogue from committing everyone to anti-consumer practices. Sony did it to kick Microsoft’s arse, and it’s why House reminded everyone that they did.
PS4 boss Andrew House: Xbox One policies surprised us [The Guardian]
To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.
Comments
42 responses to “PlayStation Exec Explains Why They Keep Taking Shots At Xbox One”
Sooo basically slander and unprofessionalism is okay if you work for Sony
Microsoft should have done the same when Psn shut down for a month and everyone’s credit card details were compromised
Or when the 60gb ps3 consoles had slow sales but every few suffered drive defections
followed by several Psn updates bricking Psps ps3s and ps vitas
Sticks and stones
Don’t trust sony
Well, Microsoft aren’t known to play it clean, why is it a bad thing for Sony to up their game? If any thing its a good thing for consumers. More competition between them = better for us. Look at the prices and policy changes happening right now. It’s great news for us.
Ok, for some reason this is really bugging me. What’s with using all these bit.ly links in articles? All it does is mask the destination.
I just don’t follow reduced URLs any more unless what it does is contained in it. The whole point of a URL is to be informative, not short.
I can’t be the only one that still thinks that video is funny haha
The amount of shots they are taking at the Xbox just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Just feels like Sony doesn’t really think their console is that hot if they have to keep referencing the Xbox. Let the finished product speak for itself.
They’ve done it twice, from memory.
You just made Kevin Butler cry.
You’ve got negged for speaking the truth….
How can you show that your console is better than someone else’s without making reference to theirs?
They know what they did were low blows and now they think everyone is stupid by saying it meant something else….what a joke!
Oh? And policy changed make MS seem confident? Sony are just strutting their stuff. If MS had better HW or something they would be. The consoles are releasing same month in AUS, they need all the support they can get right now. Why else is MS hyping up there 40 ‘changes’ controller?
If it wasn’t for Sony the Xbone would today still be the DRM laden horror-story it was months ago.
*EDIT*
looking at other replies, I was not saying we should all be grateful for Sony or that they are beyond reproach. Simply that their shameless opportunism was definitely the last beating that MS abortion of a PR campaign could take.
*DOUBLE EDIT*
None of them have spotless records, and if there’s anything I’m happy about it’s the fact that competition is the only thing left that might keep them in check. I understand though that I may be only person who thinks that literally nothing would have stopped Microsoft from going ahead with their DRM had their been no competing companies pulling the “Ours does all that and none of what you don’t want!” card.
In some respects if it wasn’t for Sony, we may very well be having to put up with DRM creep during the next console generation.
If it wasn’t for Sony DRM wouldn’t be as big as it is now.
Very true, Sony are the pioneers of DRM.
Educate yourself. Sony are not your friend, they are not looking out for you. The only reason they’re milking the current situation is because it buys them cheap and temporary popularity with people who don’t know know better.
Heh, that was exactly what I was going to bring up. They deserve some credit for not following Microsoft’s lead, this could have easily been forced on us by having both sides unite, but they aren’t heroes championing the rights of gamers.
Urgh, Sony BMG are not the same as Sony Computer Entertainment, any more than Miramax are Disney.
Urgh yourself. Nobody mentioned SCE here, we’re talking about Sony, as in Sony Corporation. And for the record, Miramax haven’t had anything to do with Disney since 2010.
Many of Sony’s subsidiaries are operated as dependent business units, separated only for tax and structural reasons. SCE takes direction from Sony Corp and SCE CEOs have a long history of holding executive positions in Sony Corp. The decision-makers in the Sony BMG rootkit scandal were also, surprise surprise, members of the Sony Corp executive team.
Wow Owen… Can’t you be sued for passing off your opinion as fact? Maybe you should have put In an opinion disclaimer or written…
“In my opinion they didn’t want to stake themselves out to any position until they knew Microsoft’s too. I think that when they saw the intense core gamer backlash to Xbox One’s more odious features, they waited”
This may make the article look more like a rant from crazy conspiracy nut, but that is essentially what this article is.
It’s arrogance.
In the same way that they were arrogant in the lead-up to the PS3 launch (price, architecture that was good in theory but difficult to work with in practice, saying they could launch with no games, etc.) and even in the back-end of this generation (calling the 3DS a baby-sitting tool, saying MS isn’t competition because it’s not a technology company, saying that the 360 doesn’t have any longevity, etc.) all while being outsold by competitors.
The difference is they toned it down a little bit for this launch and were a lot smarter (read: more conservative) with what they’re claiming — nothing revolutionary and no new technology, just refining the current generation and trying to make it a better social platform.
With the Wii-U’s and X1 both suffering from terrible marketing, Sony haven’t dug themselves into a hole by talking too much because they haven’t really had to say anything — fortunate for them, because they’re still extremely arrogant and have no respect for their rivals.
I wouldn’t say they’re arrogant, I’d say Microsoft was. Look at the comments about (paraphrased) “well you go online with a mobile phone” and “fortunately we have the Xbox 360 for those that don’t want an Xbone”. Sony did so well because they were the good guy in the face of Microsoft’s arrogance, and people responded to that. Now Microsoft is quite apologetic if anything, and Sony seems a bit snarky at that… but they’re right to draw attention to that, even if the method is a bit off.
You forgot to mention Kevin Butler in Sony’s campaign of horn tooting arrogance.
That used game video was just Adam Boyes keepin it real
Kind of funny that Sony is trying so hard to get this good publicity and how quickly people are to forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM
By that logic then we shouldn’t forgive Microsoft either for their original plans for the XBone.
Sony have long since changed their tune and are giving the gamer what they want. Microsoft have quickly realised their error and also changed their tune which is great for everyone. Now we can hopefully sit back and let them put out great games
I think you will find that the majority of the PC gaming community has most definitely not forgotten the impact of SecuROM. Consoles do not use SecuROM and holding it up as an example of Sony being pro-DRM on their platforms is erroneous.
It could be stated that Sony’s successful bid to establish the Blu-Ray medium has done more to forward the console DRM cause, but then that would be disregarding all of the proprietary measures that entertainment device makers use to create a closed environment.
The best way to put is that console manufacturers are not interested in the platform that works best for the consumer base, they are interested only in a platform that the consumer base will accept and that will increase revenue.
Oh we haven’t forgotten the ills of Sony’s past, it’s simply that the competition has more recently been doing as much if not more wrong and so the least assholes get the praise.
The difference dis Microsoft didn’t actually go ahead with its controversial DRM, while Sony has, in the past, enacted horrendous DRM, and they’ve done so secretly, and lied about it, and ended up in court about it.
At least Microsoft were up front about it, and changed their tune based on consumer outrage.
Nobody is praising Sony here. The only point I was bringing up (see above) is that in my opinion at least: it was not consumer outrage that changed Microsofts tune, but the fact the their biggest competitor came out threw them into the hole that Microsoft had dug itself.
And don’t forget the root kits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal
It’s all obviously one big marketing game, and geeks suck this shit up. Microsoft and Sony know what they are doing
True. It’s like the tabloids. Either company has to say something headline grabbing at least once a week to stay in the headlines and mindshare.
Here’s a novel concept: don’t listen to the marketing. Don’t get sucked in to Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo dick-waving at each other. Look at the specs and the exclusives, forget what internet forums think, and have fun. If you believed any of this bullshit, you’d be convinced that one console or another is the spawn of Hitler and Satan and will eat your bacon and screw your girlfriend when you’re not looking.
This guys face just creeps me out.
At the end of the day Microsoft has ripped away features and is still on par with Sony. I find it a bit ridiculous to gloat about your competition removing and not adding anything and somehow thinking you are the better one.
It’s not that bad. Microsoft stuffed up. That’s all that happened.
Now they’re moving on, and Sony troll executives don’t like it. That’s why they keep ‘reminding’ people about the past. But in the bubble that is the online gamer community, it matters.
To anyone else who don’t give a shit, this amateur Sony trolling means nothing.
I hope Sony get stuck into Microsoft for leaking parts of the latest installment of one of the biggest video game franchises around because they don’t know how to handle digital pre-purchases.
Oh wait……
But by taking jabs at Microsoft like this is also butt hurting them cause their Console isn’t 4K TV ready when the Xbox ONE is 4k TV ready. Andrew House is a joke, I mean really still take swipes at a company that can flatten SONY into the dirt is just asking for trouble. it’s like a kid throwing rocks at a wasp nest and ends up hurt badly then they were before they started throwing rocks at the wasp nest. SONY’s new color controllers still doesn’t win me nor does the fact that you have you to dish out nearly another $100 AU Dollars on top of the PS4 console just for the damn PS4 Eye camera, hello that is like over $600 AU Dollar’s not to mention you would only get one game if you had $800 AU dollar’s. What I’m getting at is SONY has bad, and I do mean BAD, marketing written all over themself’s, not to mention leaking GTA V stuff doesn’t make you’re company look good it makes it look bad even more why doesn’t SONY just quit trying to make console’s. Cause after launch not everyone will have a PS4 on launch day <- known fact and SONY has no answer for it cause they can't say it, so I'll say it for them. "We at SONY are as stupid as we make our selfs look by leaking GTA V stuff earlier than it should have been done. We would like to thank Microsoft for the money that they paid us to use the blue-ray player in their console, in other words what we are trying to say is that even though we take the fined we are sorry for being an incompetent company to look after our consumer's details and protecting our network. We are sorry for lieing though our teeth about our network and how it is far better protected than Microsoft's network. Our company will try harder to listen, (What a load of rubbish they'll eat anything up), and we will try to understand what our consumer's want, (bullshit we just want you're money give it to us)."
If anyone wants to take notice about how it should've gone even though I'm hardcore gamer and play legit to win, SONY has been letting modders and hackers into the game lobbies for years now and they haven't done anything about it
Lets face it, its marketing genius.
Whats cheaper than spending millions on advertisement and publicity?
Letting your competition make a fool of itself, then reminding everyone about it.
Now the Xbone is one big advertisement for the PS4.
That’s not slander and lies, its patience and genius.
Well played Sony, well played.
Its like playing a competitive game against a n00b. If you’re patient enough, smart enough, and know just when to strike. They’ll do more harm to themselves than they will to you.
I like how people are giving the win (marginally) to Microsoft for gamescon conferences and Sony releases this. “hey guys, dont forget we smashed them at E3”.
I dont disagree with that, they did by all means to the general public, BUT, the fact they didnt at gamescon says that Microsoft have made a huge comeback and turning around most the negativity.
i’m no fanboy for either, i want both consoles to do great and nobody to win as it applies pressure to both sides to work harder and push greater things, but personally for me, I see it as Sony starting to worry now where before they were being very. very smug