Strongest line-up ever of PS2 games

According to the new head of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves, the choice of games is the biggest ever. In this interview with The Sunday Times he looks ahead to the latest software and hardware offerings from Sony.

Chemistry and astrophysics may not have a lot in common with the Sony PlayStation 2, yet the man who took the job of Chris Deering as President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has a Ph.D. in these two subjects, apart from having an MBA in marketing.

David Reeves, who took over from Chris Deering, who in turn was promoted to President of Sony Europe, the electronics arm, believes that the current Christmas season "sees probably the strongest line-up of games ever" for the PS2.

There is a combination of blockbuster titles from Sony's own studios and from independent publishers. "Highlights include The Getaway: Black Monday from our London Studios with expected early sales of over a million units, Killzone, which has received some of the best reviews of any video game, new versions of the hugely popular Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank games, as well as the release of EyeToy: Play 2, the sequel to the award winning original game."

PlayStation 2 is approximately half way through its hardware lifecycle and about 40% of the way through the software lifecycle, Mr Reeves said, adding: "There are now over 24 million PlayStation® 2 consoles in Europe. New franchises, such as EyeToy® and SingStar^TM, have opened gaming up to a family audience. Women are also forming an increasingly large percentage of gamers, making up over 15% of all PlayStation 2 purchasers in the past three months."

Gaming has now become a mass market entertainment medium on a par with cinema, DVDs and music. Although there have been many attempts to compare the value of the games sector with other more established entertainment media, Mr Reeves said this was not really the point.

"The games industry continues to flourish and grow in its own right... and the more cinematic nature of games have attracted a more mature audience, many of whom are lapsed gamers from the days of PS One, now grown up and with children of their own."

Asked about the performance of on-line gaming, Mr Reeves said the take-up has largely been in line with our expectations and those of Sony's competitors. "Key to further uptake of online gaming is wider access to broadband and more affordable pricing," he pointed out.

"An increasing number of titles are being developed specifically to exploit the potential of broadband, and these will go a long way to increasing the attractiveness of online gaming. EyeToy Chat is one such example, which uses broadband to provide what is essentially a video conferencing solution, allowing friends to conduct video chat and send video e-mails across a broadband connection."

Mr Reeves, who was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe joined Sony in 1995. His initial assignment was to set up and manage SCEE (PlayStation) companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. After overseeing the launch of PlayStation and firmly establishing the brand in Europe, he moved back to the UK in 1999 to take up the position of senior vice-president for Sales and Marketing.

Over the past five years, as executive vice-president Marketing and Sales, Mr Reeves has helped secure an 82 per cent market share for the PlayStation brand in PAL territories and had over 102 markets reporting to him.

A Natural Sciences graduate from Cambridge University (UK), who is fluent in English, German and French and has a good knowledge of Japanese and Italian, Mr Reeves completed a Ph.D. in Chemicals and Astrophysics before beginning his working life at ICI Paints in operations research. He then went on to complete an MBA in marketing.

This led to a change of career and he started working in tobacco, food and beverages for RJR Nabisco. He spent 18 years overseas in South Africa, Switzerland, USA and Japan, where his activities included setting up and developing new markets and businesses for RJR, rolling out F1 Motor Racing sponsorships and managing global brands. In this time he also acquired knowledge of the various working styles of European, American and Asian Corporations.

Mr Reeves refused to comment on the breakdown of profits of the parent company, the Sony Corporation, which show a disproportionate share of profit coming from the Games part of the business on an annual basis, despite accounting for only 10 per cent of sales and operating revenue.

Looking to the future, a major hardware release in the New Year is expected to be PlayStation Portable (PSP^TM), a new area of the market for Sony. PSP was launched at the end of October in Japan, costing Lm66. It consists of a handheld video game system with high quality graphics and the processing capability equivalent to the PS2.

In addition to rich stereo sound, PSP offers the facility to play full-scale 3D-CG games and viewing of high resolution video images anywhere at any time. Also, thanks to a wireless LAN feature, PSP enables users to connect to the Internet through access points, making it possible to download game characters and content, and also to play games on-line with their family, friends and on-line community members.

A main feature is a 4.3-inch wide 16:9 high resolution LCD screen, the largest in a handheld gaming device. No fewer than 21 games were launched to coincide with the PSP launch with a further hundred in development.

Mr Reeves said SCEE is on schedule to launch PSP by the end of next March. "No announcements have been made about the launch date or price of PSP in Europe. We will obviously have to look at the European market before (a) decision (on the launch in) Europe will be made."

Asked about future competition to the PSP, Mr Reeves said he considers the Nintendo DS to be "completely different. (PSP) is aimed at an older and more mature market than DS. It is our intention with PSP to create an entirely new sector for personal, portable entertainment." In terms of competition to the PS2, he would not comment, saying only that Sony "welcomes competition which overall grows the size of and benefits our industry".

In terms of the PS2's lifecycle, there is to be an initial premiere to introduce the next generation PlayStation by the end of the 2004 financial year (which ends on March 31, 2005), with a playable system being demonstrated by the third quarter of the 2005 financial year.

Sony PlayStation is distributed in Malta by Forestals. For more information log on to www.forestals.com or e-mail info@forestals.com.