14 DAY TRIAL // The PlayStation 3 might end up paying good money to get exclusive games, and the online delivery system for games is not going to make disks obsolete during the lifetime of the PS3. This and other interesting comments regarding the console are part of an interview that Kaz Hirai has given Three Speech, a blog that offers mostly semi-official news regarding the Sony gaming console. The Sony headman really believes in the capabilities of the PS3 and is thinking that Sony is really seeing a turnaround when it comes to its videogaming division.
One of the core undertakings is to make it clear to the potential buyer that the PlayStation 3 is a videogame machine at its core. Kaz Hirai is confident of "the fact that we've repositioned the PlayStation 3 as being first and foremost a videogames console," and he believes that the initial positioning, which marketed the gaming console as a multimedia hub, might have actually hurt sales in the competition with the supposed "hardcore" Microsoft Xbox 360.
Part of the re-positioning is getting big titles that are exclusive to the PS3. Microsoft already seems to have secured exclusive download for GTA IV, the biggest game of the year, so Sony needs some heavy duty ammunition to counter this move. Although specifics were not given, it seems that some exclusive talks have taken place, as Hirai says that it's all related to how the developers think, since "it becomes a dialogue - if it makes sense for them to go exclusive, that's a business decision that they need to make".
Even if Microsoft is pushing hard for digital download for games, especially in the wake of the demise of the HD-DVD, the Sony gaming head does not believe that you can get games to customers using only the Internet connection, mainly because of bandwidth issues and because of how big titles for next gen consoles are. He says Sony is doing "the online stuff [...] through the PlayStation Store, but it's basically a combination that makes the most sense for us and consumers," instead of thinking of only digital content.
Does Sony have what it takes to secure more exclusive content for the PlayStation 3? At the moment, it seems the answer is "no," considering the fact that they have not even secured downloadable content for GTA IV as Microsoft has secured for the Xbox 360. But the situation might change as new games are launched in 2008.