DICE: Harrison Addresses PS3 Critics

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal interviewed Phil Harrison during the D.I.C.E. Summit yesterday to talk all things PS3. Click through for Next Generation's write-up.

[eclipsegryph]

"Harrison also talked about how onlookers have been critical of the PS3’s launch, calling the PS3’s release 'a phenomenal launch by any measure.'

'We have supplied the market with more products in Japan, Asia and the US than we did the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2, and more software than PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2,' Harrison said. Sizing up the high volume of product shipped to criticisms of the PS3’s launch, he asked, 'So, what’s wrong with this picture?'"

What's wrong with the picture, Phil, is that you are juxtaposing the PS3 vs. the PS2 and PS1. One would naturally expect a sequel console to sell better than your previous consoles, what with a larger established fanbase, better features, and whatnot. But the PS3 isn't trying to beat the PS2 or the PS1, is it, Phil? No, you're trying to beat the X-Box 360 and the Wii with your launch, and are currently failing. You said "phenomenal by ANY measure", not just when you measure the PS3 to its prior incarnations. Measure it to the X-Box 360's launch or the Wii's launch and you will find that you severely missed your mark.

It was a nice attempt to spin the bad into the good, though, I'll give you that.

[highps3]

I dont think Sony has to beat anyone, M$ has to beat Sony. Just remember they have been doing this a lot longer than M$. And as of now M$ barely has 1 / 10th the install base of the Ps2.

Sony still is outselling Microsoft fyi. You have to count ALL of Sony's products not just one.

Ps3 was released 3 months ago after 2 years of bad hype and a $600 price tag. I think they are doing pretty well considering.

And the Wii? Please its 250 bucks, I wonder why its selling more?

What about Blu Ray? Isnt that doing quite well also? What about Sony TV's? What about Sony digi cameras?

What about the fact that Sony's stock is worth DOUBLE of what Microsofts is?

Stop acting like Sony is doing horrible, they are not.

And what do you get out of Microsoft winning? You guys are getting nickel and dimed to death and are enjoying it. Then again 360 is mostly kids who probably had their parents buy them their year subscription.

I LOVE MY PS3!

[eclipsegryph]

I'm not saying that Sony is doing horrible, I simply stated that their launch was horrible.

I could care less about Sony's other endeavors - what I care about are games and gaming systems.

I don't think that one extra generation of a console constitutes a remark that Sony has been in the console game a lot longer than Microsoft.

Phil said that the PS3 launch was "phenomenal by any measure", and that is obviously false when measured against the X-Box 360 and the Wii release. That is simply all that I stated, though I did get rather verbose, yes.

I own no X-Box 360 nor X-Box, but I do have a PS2, PSX, Wii and NES, so I have no loyalty to Microsoft on any level.

You're bringing up questions that irrelevant to the topic. I can understand that, 'cause as a Sony loyalist you're tired of hearing all of the negative bullcrap and rumors and whatnot, I know, but there was not a single thing that you said in reply to me which was on topic with what I had said.

[The Snake]

"And as of now M$ barely has 1 / 10th the install base of the Ps2."
If you're going to compare the PS2 to anything, it should be the Xbox, which it outsold 4 to 1 rather than 10 to 1.

"What about the fact that Sony's stock is worth DOUBLE of what Microsofts is?"
You don't know anything about the stock market do you? Have you ever heard of a stock split? How many shares of MS stock are out there vs. Sony? I'd venture a guess of more than double.

[Grown Folks Talk]

the wii outsells the ps3 because it's $250? then why do you sony diehards keep bringing up ps2 versus 360 sales?

[nstott]

Market cap (what a company is worth) for sony is 48 billion. Market cap for MS is 286 billion. Market cap is a better way to compare the value of a company than the price of a stock. Interestingly Analysts have Sony as a strong sell and MS as a moderate buy. Nintendo's market cap in 2006 was around 35 billion probably higher now. That is impressive considering Nintendo is strictly a gaming company and sony has a much broader portfolio of products.

[UrbanJabroni]

I'm so glad you aren't CEO of a gaming company.

[TOM]

If your gonna count all of sonys sales then you need to count all of MS's sales. Now we are talking billions over sonys sales.I personally would never compair them like this but since you seem to think this way thought you might want to know thta ms is far and away the bigger company.

[lalaland]

Stating that the X360 launch went better than the PS3 launch is simply not true...

By Dec. 31st 2005, approx. two months after X360 launch, Microsoft announced they had shipped 1.5 mill. X360 consoles worldwide, including the three major territories.

By Dec. 31st 2006, approx. two months after PS3 launch, Sony announced they had shipped 1.8 mill. PS3 consoles worldwide, including two of the three major territories.

Microsofts X360 was plagued with malfunctioning and overheating units at its launch. Only a few incidents of that ilk has been reported for the PS3.

I fail to see how exactly the X360 launch was any better than the PS3 launch...

[weekapaugh]

"One would naturally expect a sequel console to sell better than your previous consoles"

LOL!!!! it hasn't even been on the market three months. nice try...

[Grown Folks Talk]

per the same time frame, not overall. do you honestly think he is stupid enough to compare 3 months to 6 years?

[timmyp53]

.

[weekapaugh]

"do you honestly think he is stupid enough to compare 3 months to 6 years?"

yep, pretty much. i don't he will be confused with a Mensa canidate anytime soon.

[eclipsegryph]

While I'm certainly not going to validate my intelligence to someone on the Internet, I'd like to point out that when I made the statement, "One would naturally expect a sequel console to sell better than your previous consoles", I was referring to the fact that in this interview Phil said that the PS3 launch is doing better than the launches of the PS2 or the PS1. Now, if you had taken the time to put that quote of mine in context with what I had said just before it, "...you are juxtaposing the PS3 vs. the PS2 and PS1", you should have realized this, and not jumped to the absurd conclusion that I was belittling Sony for not selling as many PS3s in 3 months as they did PS2s in 6 years or that I am somehow able to tell the outcome of the PS3's sales in an equal amount of time.

So, weekapaugh, how does your foot taste?

Oh, and Grown, thanks for the backup there.

[weekapaugh]

hahahaha, people actually take this stuff seriously. just messin' with ya eclipse.

[eclipsegryph]

While I'm in doubt of the sincerity of your remark, you were right in that I'm not going to be accused of being in MENSA any time soon.

But in the future, if you're going to jokingly call someone's intelligence into play, make sure you either do it with someone whom you know, and/or express some sort of friendliness about what you're going to say.

[PureGamer]

why? do you guys always argue about games consoles there games consoles for christ sake

[God of Gaming]

Are you new to the world? People argue over things that cost much less and consume far less time than gaming. Im sure you could find forums or websites with stay at home moms flaming eachother over the best way to cross stitch... just a fact of life. Ignore it if it bugs you, dont look at the comments would be my advice.

[miasma]

Another article stating the obvious and stuff we have heard before. Plus, who really cares if one system "beats the other" or does better at one time or another. Competition between consoles will keep both companies producing better abd better products, hopefully the GAMERS will be the winners...

[bizzy12]

he dident say nothing trying to hide the fact that the ps3 is wack in the public eyes no good games to play online sucks and the price

[mucho 99]

I agree with most of what he says except of his defense of the ps3's launch, he says it was greatly succesful because they were able to get so many units out to the market. However, the only reason that was the case was because of the obvious lack of any real sales. I feel that perhaps they are avoiding the fact that their console is not currently in great enough demand. They should stop being cowardly, and come out and say what is obviously right there, THEY CAN'T SELL. Now, I'm not anti-sony, but I feel that they should at least admit their mistakes.

[lalaland]

Compared to the X360 launch, Sony got more units shipped worldwide as well as to the North American market (obviously, because they had more units to begin with and only needed to split them between two markets).

Between the X360 and PS3, if we only look at the North American launch, units shipped and malfunctioning hardware, PS3 clearly had the better start...