There have been some massive developments in the future of video game consoles over the past few months, and the boxes themselves haven’t even launched yet. While most of the battling usually takes place post launch, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been going head-to-head since the word go. Microsoft’s difficult-to-understand policies were quickly attacked by Sony during this year’s E3, and the overall consumer reaction to stringent DRM and online check-ins forced Microsoft to pull back and focus on being more user friendly. It was a bizarre few weeks for the Xbox One, but Sony believes that it all ended in a positive way.
Jack Tretton, the head honcho over at SCE America, recently sat down and talked with IGN’s Greg Miller for Up at Noon about Sony’s E3 performance. He mentioned that the PlayStation company learned its lesson from the PS3, and unlike Microsoft, has been listening to fans for quite some time.
“Better late than never – I guess they got the message,” Tretton said in reference to the Xbox One news. “We spent five years listening to consumers, day in and day out.”
They not only listened on the topics of used games and connectivity, but also the price, too. The PlayStation 4 will launch at a cool $399, and while many people believed this price was decided after seeing Microsoft’s show, Tretton argues that the number was chosen many moons ago.
“A multi-billion dollar publicly traded corporation makes those decisions months and months in advance,” he said.
Apparently, the executives at Sony weren’t even watching Microsoft’s show, as the PlayStation team needed to rehearse for their time in the spotlight. And really, it looks like that was time well spent.
