SCEA head says iPhone may not wound PSVita much

SCEA chief Jack Tretton in an interview posted Friday downplayed the possible risks of the iPhone to the PlayStation Vita. The primarily casual gaming on Apple's platform wasn't expected to undermine dedicated gaming. Even though games on the PSP and Vita cost much more than iOS titles, the differences in depth and quality would still have some going to Sony, the executive told Gamasutra.

"If I open a movie theater next door [to a theater] and start charging 50 cents per ticket, but I'm showing you things I filmed with my camcorder, I don't think it's a threat to the theater charging $13 per ticket," he says. "It's about people having reasonable expectations. I don't think we're training people to pay $5 for games... The cream always rises to the top."

He also reiterated his view that smartphones were an opportunity rather than a danger. The iPhone, as well as tablets like the iPad, were bigger chances to convert casual gamers into "sophisticated" players, he said.

Whether or not the view holds may not be certain. In recent years, both Android and iOS mostly cannibalized dedicated game handhelds like the Sony PSP and Nintendo's DS series. Both companies, though, had been competing with four-year-old systems that were largely isolated from the Internet and had few media playback support.

By Electronista Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :  

iPod, iPhone, sony, industry, gaming, gadgets, PlayStation, Android, mobile phones, Vita, Apple, iPad, PSVita