Sony Philippines had a 2 day event today for the Playstation 4 launch in the Philippines, held yesterday and today at the Glorietta Activity Center, Glorietta, Ayala Center, Makati. I snapped photos of the display and talked about all things Playstation in the Philippines with Zhorida Lipayon, Group Head of Home Entertainment Product Marketing at Sony Philippines.
Note: we conducted the interview live. For the purposes of brevity and clarity, the questions and answers have been edited.
1. While the launch event occurred only yesterday, I asked around game and toy retailers on the way here and found that many of them did not have stocks of the console for sale. What exactly is the situation here?
Consumers need to understand that the situation in the Philippines is different than in other countries. Sony Philippines is the official company that distributes Sony products in the country, but these gaming and toy retailers get their PS4 units from a different distributor, not from us. On our end, we distribute with audio visual retailers, like Abenson’s, as well as our own official Sony stores.
2. How much is the console and what bundles/ deals do you have on offer?
The console is PH P 24,999. We have a package with the Playstation Camera for PH P 26,999. We also have two bundles exclusive from the preorders and the launch event, one with Killzone Shadow Fall, and one with Battlefield 4.
3. I noticed that you are offering the PS4 for far cheaper than most of these toy and game retailers. Do you think these retailers would reach out to you to get a better deal for their consoles?
These retailers may be experiencing favorable trade terms with their current distributors. To be accredited as an official dealer with Sony Philippines, they would have to meet certain requirements on our end.
NB: I verified after the fact that some game retailers do have the console in stock, and are selling the console for PH P 24,999. As far as I can tell, they are not accredited, so they may have changed price and swallowed a loss to simply keep pace with the market.
4. I see you also have the Vita TV and Vita 2000 available to demo in this event. Have you also officially launched these products as well?
We launched the Vita 2000 at the same time as the Playstation 4, but we have very limited stocks at this time. The Vita TV, in turn, will be launched at a later date. There should be sufficient stock in stores for the Vita TV and the Vita 2000 by February. The Vita TV will be for sale at PH P 8,599, while the Vita 2000 is at PH P 11,999. It will also come in six colors.
5. So you told us that your actual distribution partners are not the stores that traditionally sell games. Are you also going to ensure your partners will be stocked with these games?
OK, so these partners are better known for selling other Sony products, such as TVs and home entertainment systems, cameras, etc. However, they will also be getting stocks of the PS4 console immediately. We are working on expanding our reach in this regard with our current partners.
6. I also noted that you have available demos for the HMZ-T3. Are you also offering this up for sale?
So the HMZ-T3 is a head mounted display. Our approach in bringing the display here is holistic: we see customers who want the Playstation 4, and we want them to enjoy it as an entertainment console as well. That may mean using it with a 4K TV, or using the HMZ-T3 as a personal TV viewer.
The HMZ-T3 will also play Playstation 3 and Vita TV games, in fact, all it needs is an HDMI connection. We don’t have a price or release date yet, but we will be displayed in most of our Sony Centres.
NB: I verified with another Sony staffer that the display should also output 3D for Playstation 3 games that offer that option, such as Killzone 3. I assume that by the nature of the display, this will only be single player.
7. Kaz Hirai unveiled the Playstation Now service at last week’s CES. When can we expect this service to be available in the Philippines?
This is something we are working very hard on, but we cannot yet give a timeline.
8. I would also like to bring up a common complaint among Playstation owners in the Philippines, that we can make US and Japan accounts, but not Philippines accounts. To purchase games and services from these other regions, we have to use international credit cards or point cards. When will we get a PSN system for the country?
One thing that I would like everyone to understand is that we have been working very hard to deliver this. If it were up to us, it would have been set up a long time ago but unfortunately, it’s not just up to us. We understand that fans want this to be accessible in the Philippines, and we want to give the fans what they want. At this point we cannot really say when, but we have been working very hard at trying to set everything up. There are several factors involved, not just Sony Philippines or the Sony headquarters. We are working with several entities to finally set it up, but I really cannot give a timeline yet.
9. PSN itself was recently incorporated into SEN, or Sony Entertainment Network accounts, that also delivers video, music, and other content. Did you have to take all the rights and distributors for all this other content in mind while setting up the account system?
There’s no issue within Sony, I would like to make that very clear. It’s more of external factors affecting it.
10. Is it more about the economics of it? Is it feasible?
It’s doable, but it requires groundwork, for one. There is also the external entities that we need to deal with. Again, Sony is not the issue.
11. OK, so anecdotally, I’ve been looking around , and I’ve seen a few Sony Centre stores close shop in the past year. Are there still any Sony Centres?
There are a lot. We have a little under 30 Sony Centres. We actually have several distribution channels, including Sony Centres, gadget shops, Vaio stores (PCs), and Sony Alpha shops (cameras).
12. So you can just bring your broken Playstation to one of these stores to have them fixed?
Actually, you can bring them to the service centers. We have the most service centers nationwide, more than any other brand out there.
You can follow Sony Philippines on Facebook and Twitter. We want to thank Zhorida Lipayon for her time and look forward to hearing about other things Sony related from her soon. You can also check out a small gallery of images we have from the event below.
