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PlayStation boss Andrew House will leave Sony at the end of 2017
In 2011 Andrew House took over a troubled PlayStation brand from Kaz Hirai and has since restored its place as a leader in the gaming industry. Now, Sony has announced he's stepping down from his post as president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. SIE came to be in early 2016, spinning off everything PlayStation and Sony Network as a subsidiary of Sony based in California. According to a press release, he will be replaced by current deputy president John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera effective immediately but will remain in a new position as chairman through the end of the year to smooth the transition. These days the PlayStation 4 family is on top of the sales charts, sports a game library stocked with desirable exclusives and is reaching into new technology like VR. But when House originally took the reins, he had a tough job ahead of him coming off of a disappointing run with the PS3 that included "$599 US dollars" and a hacking incident that took down PlayStation Network for more than a month. House has been with PlayStation since the beginning, working in Sony's marketing and communications department on the launch of the original console, eventually running the PlayStation business in Europe as of 2009.
The After Math: Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro event
For an hourlong media event, Sony packed a ton of new info into 60 minutes. Release date and prices for both the PlayStation 4 Slim and PS4 Pro, tons of HDR footage from upcoming games and even a few bits about how the PS4 Pro would better handle PlayStation VR games. That's on top of perhaps the biggest announcement of the keynote: All 40 million + PS4s will get an update that adds HDR video capability. And that's just the beginning.
Sony boss confirms PlayStation 4 'Neo' exists, won't be at E3
In an interview with the Financial Times, Sony executive Andrew House has confirmed that a new, more-powerful PlayStation 4, codenamed "Neo," is coming, but says it will not be unveiled at E3. House, who is the president and global chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment, says the new system will be sold alongside the existing PS4 for the entirety of this console generation. "It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4," he told the FT, "we will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle."
Sony creates a new company to run everything PlayStation
Okay, so this is kind of weird: Sony just announced that it's spinning off PlayStation into its own separate company, dubbed Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. It combines Sony Computer Entertainment (basically any and all PlayStation-related hardware and software) with Sony Network Entertainment (services like PlayStation Vue and the PlayStation Store) and will be led by Andrew House as president and global CEO. Head of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, retains his title, but will now report to Shawn Layden.
Hideo Kojima's first independent game is a PS4 exclusive
Konami's loss is PlayStation's gain: Tonight Sony announced an exclusive collaboration with legendary game developer Hideo Kojima, the auteur responsible for the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders franchises. In the announcement video from PlayStation below, Kojima says that he's making a new franchise that'll be console-exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sitting alongside him, PlayStation president Andrew House said that Sony will offer its "full support" on Kojima's new project. And really, aside from the shiny new Kojima Productions logo, that's about it in terms of details.
Sony's PlayStation Vue TV service to launch in the next two weeks
Sony's PlayStation-based streaming live TV service won't go live nationwide until sometime later in 2015. If you live in Chicago, Philadelphia or New York City, however, the service lights up "in the next two weeks." That's according to Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House -- he's the top PlayStation exec at Sony. House told the Wall Street Journal as much in an interview today, though he stopped short of providing details on pricing or launches in other parts of the US.
PlayStation 4 sales hit 4.2 million as of December 28th
SCEA CEO Andrew House just took the stage during Kaz Hirai's CES 2014 keynote to announce some PS4 sales numbers: 4.2 million systems, and 9.7 million games sold as of December 28th. That's exactly double the figure the company told us last month, notching 2.1 million cumulative sales by December 1st. It's a seriously impressive start for Sony's next-gen console, putting it clearly ahead of the 3 million Xbox One sales recorded in 2013 (although Microsoft's console is available in fewer markets right now). Moving forward, Sony will build on its sales momentum by launching PlayStation Now, a service that'll eliminate cross-platform compatibility issues by letting gamers stream titles on their PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, smartphone and tablet directly from the cloud. Based on Sony's acquisition of streaming outfit Gaikai, PlayStation Now will come as part of a new subscription model for users, and will kick off with a limited beta starting later this month, followed by a full US rollout in the summer.
Sony tried including PlayStation 4 Eye camera at $399, may include in future bundles
The $100 difference between the Xbox One's $500 launch price and the PlayStation 4's $400 launch price comes down to Sony's PlayStation 4 Eye: the motion and voice-sensing peripheral that acts very much like Microsoft's Kinect. Apparently Sony intended on including the Eye with its PS4 at launch this November, but word came from on high at Sony Computer Entertainment that the console needed to keep its $400 asking price and not lose "too much" in the process (the console, at $400, is being sold at a loss). SCE president and group CEO Andrew House doesn't see the Eye's exclusion as an issue for PlayStation, though, as he told Business Spectator, "the vast majority of the audience that we speak to tells us that their primary wish is for the full controller interface and there's not necessarily a huge emphasis being placed on camera interaction." House said he could see SCE "adjust messaging" on the Eye in due time, but it remains to be seen how much users demand the Eye as part of the PS4 hardware bundle. Somewhat bizarrely, the console comes with a copy of PS4 tech demo The Playroom, much of which employes the Eye (see a lengthy walkthrough in video form below). Regardless, the difference in strategy here is one major distinction between two game consoles that are, in many ways, extremely similar. Microsoft's taken an "all-in" approach with its new version of Kinect, risking a higher initial price for the ubiquity that including Kinect brings. Considering the company sold over 24 million of its standalone motion-sensing camera on Xbox 360, we're anxious to see what including Kinect in the box will mean for Xbox One sales.
Sony unveils its next game console, the PlayStation 4, arriving in holiday 2013
Sony tonight announced its much-rumored next video game console, the PlayStation 4. Sony Computer Entertainment prez and CEO Andrew House unveiled the console with little more than a logo and a handful of concepts, though he did say it's coming in holiday 2013. As far as specs, the PS4 has an 8-core 64-bit x86 "Jaguar" CPU from AMD and a Radeon GPU with 18 "compute units" pushing 1.84 TFLOPS of horsepower. It features a 6X Blu-ray drive, 802.11n WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI, optical out, analog AV out, and an unknown amount of internal storage. Lead system architect Mark Cerny -- legendary game dev and, most importantly, creator of Marble Madness -- said that development of the PS4 started five years ago, and since then, he's been exploring how to evolve "the PlayStation ecosystem." Speaking to the limitations of the previous PlayStation console, Cerny said he's been aiming to make sure "nothing gets between the platform and the game." An image of an old-timey hunter shooting Space Invaders ships in the sky (in reality) was used as an example -- later, a more concrete example was given in the PS4's multitasking ability, as well as its ease of use. More on that in a moment. "We were able to create in PlayStation 4 a system by game creators, for game creators," Cerny said. Double Fine president Tim Schafer and Harmonix president Alex Rigopulos were just two of several game devs that spoke to Sony reaching out and asking for input. He next unveiled the DualShock 4, which looks an awful lot like the leaks we saw recently -- it features a new touchpad, a new light bar, a Share button, a mono speaker, and what looks like rubberized grips (in addition to the standard dual analog sticks, d-pad, triggers, shoulder buttons, and four face buttons). Internally, it's still got rumble functionality and a built-in, non-removable lithium ion battery. In so many words, the DualShock 4 looks an awful lot like a DualShock 3 with some new bells and whistles.
Sony Network Entertainment prez Tim Schaaff retires, will remain on board of directors
Tim Schaaff came over to Sony from Apple back in 2005 with a mission of aligning its vast consumer electronics and entertainment interests, and today the company has announced he's retiring from his post as Sony Network Entertainment President at the end of the year. Schaaf's responsibilities will be taken over by current Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House to start 2013, although Schaaf will retain his seat on Sony Network's board of directors. In place and SNEI prez since 2010, he was around for the infamous PSN hack and subsequent outage in 2011, calling it a "great experience"... that he would not like to do again, of course. While Sony has made great strides in reorganizing the way its disparate arms work together since '05 (remember Sony Connect? No one else does either.) his departure comes amidst new company head Kaz Hirai's "One Sony" turnaround efforts along the same lines. A rebranding of PlayStation Network to Sony Entertainment Network hasn't pushed the Music and Movie Unlimited properties to the top just yet, nor connected devices like its tablets and phones -- we'll see if this executive shuffling has any effect on the company's fortunes going forward.
Kaz Hirai to become Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman, leave Andrew House with tough CEO gig
When you've had to deal out as many public apologies as Sony has had to perform over its protracted PSN hacking saga, the typical expectation is that someone somewhere will be getting fired or "reshuffled" into a new post. No firings at PlayStation headquarters, however our old pal Kaz Hirai is getting a new position as Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman, with Andrew House succeeding him in the CEO hot seat. Mr. House was previously Sony's PlayStation chief in Europe, so he's simply stepping up to be responsible for the company's global operations, but Kaz's new duties are less clearly defined. Both changes will go into effect on September 1st, a day after current Chairman Akira Sato retires, giving both Kaz and Andrew a little time to get accustomed to their new(ish) surroundings before tackling Sony's massively important PS Vita launch at the tail end of the year.
Sony: every NGP game will be available to download, some might not even make it to physical release
We're filling the time between now and the NGP's holiday season release the best way we know how: by hunting down yet more information about it. Andrew House, the man in charge of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has delivered the latest tidbit in an interview with MCV, where he states unequivocally that every game on the next PlayStation Portable will be available to buy as a download. Notably, he also expresses Sony's desire to have simultaneous distribution in both digital and physical channels, but that sounds a lot less concrete than his promise that every game will be downloadable. Digital-only games also figure prominently in Andrew's vision of the NGP's future, as he expects them to diversify choice for consumers alongside the big time titles like Uncharted. To learn more about Sony's replacement of UMDs with flash memory and the reasoning behind the PlayStation Suite, follow the source link below for the full interview.
Sony says NGP will be 'affordable,' won't cost $599, WiFi-only version also coming
We had quite the interview with Sony's Jack Tretton, but we certainly didn't corner the market on hot new NGP details -- Eurogamer and Game Informer quizzed the company's Andrew House and Shuhei Yoshida, respectively, and came out with some important tidbits about the quad-core gaming handheld, particularly regarding pricing. Though Tretton seemed to suggest we'll see a price somewhere northward of the Nintendo 3DS's $250, Yoshida was quoted as saying "It's not going to be $599," laughing off the idea that the system would cost as much as the PlayStation 3's infamous appraisal at launch, and House said that Sony "will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space." While none were willing to cough up a real ballpark estimate, the SCEE president revealed one way that the cost might come down: pushing out a lesser model, a strategy we've seen before. House said that while all devices come with WiFi, "a separate SKU will have 3G," making us wonder which of the handheld's other groundbreaking features might carry a premium. After all, OLED screens don't come cheap. Find the rest of Eurogamer's excellent interview (including a bit about how Sony will prioritize downloadable content over physical media) at our source link.
Sony ponders charging for 'online pass' game functionality
We specifically told you guys not to tell your friends at Sony about a certain "feature" of EA Sports whereby the player is charged $10 to unlock online content and multiplayer functionality. And what do we have here? It looks like someone spilled the beans, because GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment head Andrew House has been giving the matter some serious thought. "On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee," he said, "we're broadly supportive... and we're exploring actively the same option for our own content." Of course, this runs counter the free and democratic nature of PlayStation Network, but you know how strategies can change once someone gets dollar signs in their eyes.
Sony's Andrew House: PSP Go launched in part to 'learn more about what the consumer wanted'
Sony's certainly been fairly candid when discussing the PSP Go in the past, but SCEE CEO Andrew House went quite a bit further than usual in discussing the download-only handheld with MCV recently. When asked if he considered the PSP Go to be a success, he responded by saying that it was "introduced in a mature lifecycle to learn more about what the consumer wanted," and that Sony has "definitely learned a lot," adding that "one of the reasons we launched PSP Go was to understand where that consumer behavior was going." He further went on to say that Sony was "getting signals from consumers that this was the kind of device that they wanted," but says that Sony needs to "recognize that consumers like their packaged media library." Does that mean a return to physical media for the eventual PSP 2? House unsurprisingly wouldn't say, but we have a feeling Sony will be getting plenty of questions about it at E3 next week.
Sony's Andrew House hints at more social networking for PS3
PlayStation Home not "social" enough for you? Fret not PS3 users (or soon-to-be PS3 users), 'cause Sony Computer Entertainment Europe head Andrew House has recently dropped a not so subtle hint that some more traditional social network features are on their way to the console. While he obviously didn't get too specific, House did tell the Financial Times that Sony has plans for more social networking features, and apparently wouldn't rule out a partnership with "popular sites such as Facebook," much like Microsoft has already announced for the Xbox 360. In PS3 price-cut news, House also noted that Sony is indeed aware that "consumers are watching their euros and pounds more carefully than before," but added that "it would not be fair to say this is a reaction to current market conditions." [Via Joystiq]
Sony exec admits "certain premium" associated with PSPgo
Alright, so this one isn't exactly a shocker, but it is a little bit of honesty that's not often found when it comes to talking about the prices of new gadgets. Speaking with MCV, SCEE President Andrew House denied that R&D costs and retailer mark-ups were the reason behind the PSPgo's high price tag, saying instead that, "when you introduce a new piece of hardware you have the opportunity to say there is a certain premium that is associated with it, and we took that into account." So, in other words, Sony is charging $249 for the PSPgo because it can. Surprised? Now, about that price cut...[Via Joystiq]
David Reeves retires from SCEE, Andrew House gleefully takes over
The always outspoken and completely outré David Reeves has decided to retire from his post as President, CEO and Co-COO at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE). During his 14 years with the company, Sir Reeves has provided us with loads to talk about, even finding himself the proud owner of our 37th edition of 'CE-Oh No He Didn't!' The scuttlebutt is that Reeves could be leaving to share his talents with Realtime Worlds, but then again, maybe he's just out to step foot in the 40 remaining countries that he has yet to visit. At any rate, Sony has already selected Andrew House (pictured) to take over on May 1st, with a release noting that he will soon be responsible for "managing the PlayStation business across nearly 100 countries in the Europe / PAL territories, including the company's PlayStation2, PSP and PlayStation 3 platforms as well as PlayStation Network." Oh, and Mr. House -- we're fully expecting a 'CE-Oh No He Didn't!' quip from you within the first hundred days. Make it happen.Read - David Reeves outRead - Andrew House in
