Cerny: PlayStation 3 Was a ‘Unifying’ Experience for Sony

We may all enjoy our PlayStation 3s and wonderful exclusive titles now, but not long ago, the majority of the gaming community was against Sony’s direction. The Cell processor was difficult to develop on, the console was far too expensive, and years after release, the software choices were slim. Things were looking grim for the PlayStation maker, but looking at the company’s current situation, everything points to a truly successful launch of the PlayStation 4.

What changed? If you ask system architect Mark Cerny, he’ll tell you that it was the entire attitude of the company’s management that took a better turn.  

"PlayStation 3 was a unifying experience for Sony Computer Entertainment," Cerny told CVG in a recent interview. "Anyone who was at the company in 2005, and 2006, and 2007, came out of it with an intuitive understanding that we had to start doing things in a certain way. We had to start doing things in an international, collaborative way. We needed to have very frank and open discussions with developers. We needed to pay much more attention to the software and development environment. We needed to have very important discussions with third parties."

Developers, both big and small, just seem excited for the future of the PlayStation 4. There’s an enthusiasm around the brand that’s been absent for quite some time, and what that seems to come down to is the openness of the PlayStation team.

"If in 2004, when Sony was designing the Cell processor, I said we needed to talk to the development community about this, the answer would have been a simple 'no.' But by 2008, that was a simple 'yes,’'" Cerny said.

The pre-order numbers and overall community attitude points to this being a much more solid tactic than what we saw with the PlayStation 3. Sony is listening, and thankfully, the positivity is spreading.