STACK #135 Jan 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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After steering the PlayStation business in Australia for 20 years, Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Michael Ephraim has seen it all.We spoke to him recently about the success of the PS4 and his thoughts on the upcoming PlayStationVR. the veteran

Talking about PSVR, are you totally convinced that it’s not just a fad; not just another 3D television or motion gaming? VR as a broader category is for real. Somebody reminded me last night that VR has been around for over 20 years. When I was with Sega, we had a VR prototype for boxing games. So it’s been around a long, long time, but I think now with PlayStation VR, with the response we’ve had, I can say this with hand on heart, every single person that has tried VR has had the same, ‘Wow, that was amazing’ experience. I don’t think it’s a fad in any way. I don’t think it will replace console gaming, I just think it will just be another way to play. The response of PSVR has been nothing short of amazing, and for me being in the industry for 20 years, this is a quantum leap forward. Yeah. And that’s always the case, even with a console platform. You’ve got to deliver the range. Initially the platform heals to the core, but as the life cycle goes on, price comes down, then you get games that are more broad based. So I think we’ll see the same with VR. Sony are working on some really creative titles now with a distinct indie feel to them. Many of the games announced last year break with traditional triple-A convention, steering the PS4 in a different direction. Would you agree with that? I think we have the triple-As, either Uncharted or our third parties, but I think the exciting thing about PlayStation is the innovative titles. Look at Dreams – if you go back to LittleBigPlanet , that was pretty amazing; users have developed like 12 million levels. Dreams could be a pretty amazing revolution in gaming like LittleBigPlanet was, in a way. WiLD , I think is very It’s certainly a challenge for your developers...

You couldn’t have asked for a better 24 months, Michael? It’s been fantastic. During the PlayStation 1 days, we were digital rock and roll stars, there was no Internet, there was no Apple, there was no Google, there was nothing. So, PlayStation was pretty big. Over the 20 years we’ve had technology convergence with different devices doing different things or similar things, but this year I think PlayStation has nailed it as far as what the consumer wants, with what the machine is capable of doing. Digital growth and social growth has played to the strengths of PlayStation. Without the benefit of hindsight, could you have possibly foreseen that you’d be in this position now? Were you pretty confident going into the launch of PS4? PS3 was a struggle, even though in Australia, and launching a year after Xbox 360, we ended up pretty much on par. So we closed the gap. We knew it was pretty good but you can’t take anything for granted until it starts happening. I think we’ve done a lot of things right and I think our competitors did a few things wrong, which helped the cause. E3 2013? Monumental moment in time. We knew PS4 was going to be good, but it’s hard to forecast in this business with next gen devices and what’s going to happen. It was a lean period for PS4 titles leading into Christmas. Did the planets not align in time? Look, that’s World Wide Studio’s job and it’s hard to understand the range and scope of work they have in front of them. They’ve got to be planning for PlayStation VR. And it’s been well

Sony Computer Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Michael Ephraim

Below: Sony's PlayStation VR.

GAMES

interesting; Qantic Dreams’ new title Detroit: Being Human looks incredible. So triple-As will always be triple- As, they will always be

documented that there won’t be first party support for

Vita anymore – third parties will be. One of the main reasons we're not supporting Vita anymore is to really get our studios focused on PlayStation 4. We’ve always had

in demand, and they will always sell in bucketloads. But to keep the industry – and the PlayStation

vibrant and appealing - I think development has to keep pushing the boundaries of what gaming is. So you think there’s room for these two? I think again, if we want to appeal to a broad base and we want to keep people coming back, you’ve got to keep innovating, and you’ve got to deliver the triple-A products.

very strong collaborations with third parties, and last year we collaborated with the best. You can play some third party games first, or more with exclusive content on PS4. I think we filled the gap of first party PS4 titles. This year is a whole different story and we kick off with probably one of the best games I’ve ever seen, Uncharted 4, in March.

JANUARY 2016

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