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PS4 launch a 'great redemption' to Tretton
Former Sony Computer Entertainment America President - and upcoming co-host of Spike's E3 coverage - Jack Tretton told GamesIndustry International that part of the reason for his departure from Sony earlier this year was that he wanted to "go out on top." Calling the PlayStation 4 a "great redemption" from the financial woes that plagued the PlayStation 3, Tretton said he was ready to break out of the platform and company-specific boxes he had previously been defined by. "Figuring everything out and making that platform such a success quite frankly contributed to me being more comfortable with getting on to the rest of my career," he said. Since April, he's been pursuing other interests. "I really see myself more in a free agent role and really trying to branch out and smell the fresh air of being able to be platform agnostic and not just dedicated to console gaming," Tretton said. "I've really been spending more of my time during the last couple months looking into mobile gaming and other forms of entertainment that I haven't had the time or ability to focus on." Last Wednesday, it was announced that Tretton had joined the advisory board for a startup company called Genotaur, which researches artificial intelligence and human-computer interfaces. [Image: Sony]
Former Sony boss Jack Tretton covering E3 for Spike TV
Jack Tretton, former president of Sony Computer Entertainment America and man who literally dropped the mic at E3 2013, will be back for E3 2014. Instead of operating under Sony's banner however, Tretton will join forces with Spike TV's Geoff Keighley as a "special correspondent" during Spike's "All Access" program, weighing in with his thoughts about the various announcements, reveals and news coming out of E3 2014's press conferences. "Since I dropped the mic last year on Spike I thought it was only appropriate to pick it back up for E3 this year," Tretton said in a statement to Kotaku. "I've been to every E3 but this year I'm excited to see the show through a different lens with the team at Spike. I'll be watching the news and announcements unfold alongside the fans and the rest of the industry, and I can't wait to see the new games that everyone is bringing to the table." In light of his employment history, it'll be interesting to see if Tretton takes Stephen Colbert's approach to his analysis, i.e. "Sony's press conference: great conference, or greatest conference?" [Image: Joystiq]
Joystiq Weekly: Batman: Arkham Knight, our South Park review and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. Rocksteady revealed its return to the Batman series this week with Batman: Arkham Knight, and we've dug out capes and Batarangs from our Halloween stash to get properly excited. Last year's Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate were the first pieces of the series that weren't developed by Rocksteady. We enjoyed Arkham Origins well enough, but we're ready to move on from its bugs and glitches, especially since not all of them will be fixed with a patch. Arkham Knight is set to be the final game in the Arkham series, and we're eager to see what Rocksteady will do for the finale once it releases in October. There's plenty to read while we wait however, including news of Amy Hennig's departure from Naughty Dog, a preview of Watch Dogs and a review of South Park: The Stick of Truth. We've rounded up those stories and more for you in this week's edition of the Joystiq Weekly. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Jack Tretton steps down as Sony Computer Entertainment president
Jack Tretton is not renewing his contract with Sony Computer Entertainment America and as of March 31, he will no longer be president and CEO of the company. This is a mutual agreement between Tretton and SCEA, a press release reads. As of April 1, current EVP and COO of Sony Network Entertainment International, Shawn Layden, will be SCEA president. Layden has been with PlayStation for 15 years and helped launch SNEI in 2010. Tretton has been with SCEA since it was founded in 1995. He offered the following statement in the release: "Working at SCEA for the past 19 years has been the most rewarding experience of my career. Although I will deeply miss the talented team at SCEA and the passion demonstrated every day by our fans, I'm very excited about starting the next chapter of my career. I want to thank the employees, partners and customers for their tireless commitment to the PlayStation brand and, of course, to our fans who have pushed us to new heights of innovation and entertainment over the past two decades. I leave PlayStation in a position of considerable strength and the future will only get brighter for PlayStation Nation." Tretton offers a more personal (in business terms) letter to fans on the PlayStation Blog. It can be summed up with, "Thank you." No, Tretton, thank you for this gif.
Sony's Tretton projects 3 million PS4s sold by year's end
Sony Computer Entertainment of America president and CEO Jack Tretton reiterated his sales projections for the PlayStation 4 in a recent interview with Bloomberg, asserting that three million PS4 consoles will be sold by the end of 2013. Tretton additionally believes that PS4 console sales will surpass five million units by March 2014. Tretton bases his projections on the fact that the PS4 will launch in 32 countries by the end of the year, arriving in a broader selection of markets and at a cheaper cost than Microsoft's competing Xbox One. Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian backed up Tretton's estimates, projecting that Sony will sell three million PS4s this year. "This is a marathon, not a sprint, but getting out to a nice start is a good thing," Tretton said. "That hurdle has been cleared. We're very, very confident we're in great shape."
Sony throws down new games, new footage, and the gauntlet at E3 2013
Sony finished day 0 of E3 2013 with a bang, following up on its PlayStation 4 console announcement from earlier this year with some more game teases and reveals, and then laying down one of the most memorable E3 moments ever, with Jack Tretton taking full advantage of the public discontent with Microsoft's Xbox One licensing policies. Here's a post-conference rundown of what exactly took place at the Sony event last night.
Tretton: PS4 game prices range from $.99 to $60
PlayStation 4 game prices will run the gamut from one dollar to sixty, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton has revealed. "We're going to welcome free-to-play models, games from $.99 up to those $60 games," Tretton revealed in a CNBC interview.Tretton also responded to the fact that we didn't actually get to see the PS4 during the unveiling event earlier this week, even though Sony told us all about the innards. Tretton says it was more important for Sony to show the concepts behind the system than to make a big deal out of the hardware itself – excluding the DualShock 4, obviously."You're going to see some of the greatest games ever created and the consumer is going to have more ease of use, the ability to sample games before they buy them and have more breadth of games than they've ever seen before," Tretton said of the PlayStation 4 during the segment. He also clarified that while Holiday 2013 is the official launch window for the PS4, "the promise is out for Holiday 2013, so pre-Christmas."
Status Report: the PlayStation Vita, three months in
"Three months, forty titles in. I think it's a fantastic machine. Of course we'd like to sell more of them, and we have key plans to do that," Sony's VP of Product Development and Worldwide Studios, Scott Rohde, told us in an interview during E3 2012. We asked Rohde for a status update on the PlayStation Vita, which launched in North America in late February. Despite less than stellar sales of the handheld and a light upcoming game lineup, Rohde's positivity on the Vita is unshaken."We're building a lot of additional titles internally. A lot of good third-party support, you saw that announced at our press conference. So, we think that it's certainly on the rise. Still doing well. Would we like it to do better? Of course. And we're doing everything we can in terms of providing great new content – sixty titles next year – to insure that that will happen," he said.Despite Rohde's claims, Sony reps hardly mentioned the Vita during the company's E3 2012 press conference. Across an hour and a half, the three-month-old console only warranted three mentions, and just one for a first-party Vita game (PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale). As host, SCEA president and CEO Jack Tretton promised 60 new games on Vita in 2012, but didn't show a single one. Outside of PS All-Stars, the only two Vita games shown were third-party juggernauts Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified and Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation. Both of those are scheduled to launch this year."You know that Sly will also have a PlayStation Vita presence. Some things that we're not announcing yet. You saw LittleBigPlanet Vita ... if I can sit here and say you've got PlayStation All-Stars, you've got Sly, you've got Assassin's, you've got Call of Duty, and you've got LittleBigPlanet – that's a pretty nice set to build a foundation on," Rohde added. "And there are a lot of other bigger and smaller things that we just haven't announced yet."Of the system itself, Rohde said he "wouldn't change anything" about it. As for the launch, however, he said, "If I could go back in time, maybe I would've spread out some of the software releases a little bit." 25 games of varying quality launched alongside the PlayStation Vita this past February, with 10 more in the console's "launch window" (that window is apparently still open, as Silent Hill: Book of Memories has yet to come out).That latest game from Sony's internal studios for Vita is the critically acclaimed Gravity Rush. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is planned for a "holiday" launch on PlayStation 3 and Vita.
PS Plus members get 12 games this month starting tomorrow
Your incentive for plunking down the cash on PlayStation Plus will be bolstered by a dozen new titles, Sony's Jack Tretton revealed today. While Tretton didn't reveal a full list of what PS Plus members will get in June, he called out a few titles including Infamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Saints Row 2. These free games will be available for download starting tomorrow.
Tretton hoping for half-million PS Vita sales in first three weeks of US launch
Sony's backing the Vita's US launch with a $50 million marketing campaign. The company is, as you would expect, bullish on the system's future here, with CEO Jack Tretton estimating a big impact in terms of launch window sales.Speaking with Reuters, Tretton said he would "be very pleased" if the PlayStation Vita moved half a million units in the United States in the next three weeks. Even though the Vita moved 321,000 units in its first two days on sale, it took over a month for the Vita to hit 500,000 in Japan. The cheaper PSP is still popular in that region and moves thousands of units each week. North America, however, is a much larger market.Instead, launch sales of the PSP in the US may be more indicative of what the PS Vita will do. The PSP launched here on March 24, 2005, for $249 and sold 500,000 in its first two days.
Kevin Butler comes out of 'retirement' for new PlayStation campaign, 'Long Live Play'
Four bleak days after Sony ad man Kevin Butler publicly resigned, Sony released a new video laying out its new ad campaign and reintroducing us to the VP of ... well, everything. "Long Live Play" is the new motto, replacing "It Only Does Everything" as the phrase we hear interwoven into press conference speeches and sizzle reels for the next year or so. Always the showman, Butler kicks off the motto with a bang, as you'll see in the video above. On a personal note, allow us to welcome Mr. Butler back, who's always been the VP of our hearts.
SCEA president Jack Tretton apologizes for PSN breach and outage
With surprising candor, Sony Computer Entertainment Americal president Jack Tretton kicked off the Sony E3 2011 press conference with a formal apology for the PSN breach and outage which plagued the system earlier this year. Check out a video of his statements after the jump.
Saints Row: The Third has exclusive mode on PS3, launches November 15
Jack Tretton revealed during the Sony E3 2011 press conference that the latest installment in Volition's zany adult series will launch on November 15. Saints Row: The Third will feature an exclusive mode on the PS3 utilizing the game's "signature weapon." So basically the dildo bat. Tretton didn't provide details beyond that the mode would be "over-the-top." Who's up for some dildo-bat fencing? Update: We incorrectly labeled this mode as Move compatible. We apologize for the error and have corrected the post.
PlayStation claims lead in Netflix devices, adding CinemaNow to PSN
Jack Tretton is on stage right now at the Sony E3 press conference, and he says that the PlayStation 3 enjoys a (slightly unbelievable?) lead as the most popular device for Netflix users, apparently topping the Xbox 360, Wii, and the Apple TV, and accounting for nearly 30% of Netflix streams in one study. Tretton also announced that Sony would be adding the CinemaNow service to the PlayStation 3 in the future, giving users one more way to instantly watch video on demand on the console. Tretton said that Sony would bring even more content onto the console soon, and "keep adding industry-defining entertainment experiences to PlayStation Network each step of the way."
Sony's E3 keynote to be streamed live in PlayStation Home
Got any plans for Monday night? Sony's announced that it will stream its five hour E3 press conference straight from the very real, very solid Los Angeles to the ephemeral metaverse of PlayStation Home. Normally, we'd judge anyone who spends five hours inside of PlayStation Home, but we'll make an exception for this. The keynote kicks off on June 6 at 5pm PT. In addition to the press conference, Sony will also recreate its E3 booth set-up in Home. Starting Tuesday, June 7 at 12pm PT, users can take a virtual tour of Sony's re-creation and unlock exclusive Home content in the process. Also, the PlayStation Blog guys will be streaming live from the show floor at random intervals, offering up game demos and interviews for virtual patrons. We'll be honest ... we're a little jealous. We'll be there, dragging ourselves through the aromatic halls of E3 to bring you all the hot scoops ... but instead of F5-ing our internet site, you'll be kicking it in Home. We quit. Hit the jump for the full press release.
Sony will stream PlayStation E3 press conference straight to PlayStation Blog
Never one to be left out, Sony has finally announced its plans to stream its E3 press conference directly into the PlayStation Blog. This follows in the footsteps of Nintendo, Microsoft and, despite our strenuous pleas to reconsider, even Konami. Make sure to circle June 6th in your Sexy Sony Executive calendar (June is Jack Tretton's month!), because things get going at 5pm PT. Though Sony has something of a reputation for its press conferences dragging on (and on and on and on), we don't think this year's conference will take up the entire five hour event. Yes, Sony's event on the 6th is five hours long and yes, if it's all press conference we'll kill ourselves too. And that is where suicide pacts come from.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Sony's Jack Tretton says Nintendo makes 'babysitting tools'
Sony does what Nintendon't? That's the general sentiment from a brief interview that PlayStation chief Jack Tretton gave to Fortune this week, in which he talked up Sony's strengths and played down (some may even say belittled) its competitors, and Nintendo in particular. That began with the relatively tame assertion that Sony's decision to go high-end with PlayStation 3 is just now beginning to pay off while the other consoles are "starting to run out of steam," before he took aim at Nintendo's handheld business. According to Tretton, Nintendo's handhelds all offer what he calls a "Game Boy experience," something that's great as a "babysitting tool," but that "no self-respecting twenty-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those." Yow. Any self-respecting twenty-somethings beg to differ? Let us know in the comments below. [Thanks, Robert C]
Tretton talks up need for 'cutting edge' tech, MS and Nintendo falling behind
In a recent interview with Fortune, Sony PlayStation CEO Jack Tretton spoke up the strength of the upcoming NGP handheld, while simultaneously taking off the kid gloves. Speaking on the current console cycle, Tretton said, "If you're really going to sustain technology for a decade, you have to be cutting edge when you launch a platform." He added, "[Microsoft and Nintendo] are starting to run out of steam now in terms of continuing to be relevant in 2011 and beyond," Tretton said. "I mean, you've gotta be kidding me," Tretton added, "Why would I buy a gaming system without a hard drive in it? How does this thing scale? Motion gaming is cute, but if I can only wave my arms six inches, how does this really feel like I'm doing true accurate motion gaming?" He also called out the family of DS hardware, saying Nintendo's handhelds are a "great babysitting tool," adding, "no self-respecting 20-something is going to be sitting on an airplane with one of those. He's too old for that." Joke's on you, Mr. Tretton -- not only are we sitting on a plane playing with our DS, we're using it to play Pokémon. Any self-respect we may have once had has clearly been eroded into oblivion.
Tretton: Japan earthquake may push NGP out of 2011 in some regions
As a result of the recent earthquake in Japan, the NGP handheld may not make the holiday 2011 release window worldwide. "It may be the straw that says 'maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year,'" SCEA president Jack Tretton told Bloomberg, suggesting that Sony may opt to stagger production of the handheld and release it in just one territory this year. According to Bloomberg, damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has slowed Sony's production line by forcing the closure of "several" factories in northern Japan. Sony's plan as of January was already to have the handheld out in "at least one territory" by holiday 2011. It's just more likely to be just one now. Of course, we hope we can all agree that the people of Japan have more important things to worry about right now than rushing out video game hardware. On the upside, Tretton brought up the point that increased time before release will allow developers to put more work into their launch games.
Sony wants NGP out in 'at least one territory' by end of holiday 2011
Sony has appended a "Holiday 2011" release date to its next-generation portable system (codename: NGP), but hasn't offered a timetable for individual regions. Will it be a worldwide launch? Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton didn't provide an answer in his interview with Engadget, opting to pin Sony's strategy on providence. "I know that's rather ambiguous, and that's for a reason," Tretton said. "I think our goal is always to launch holidays when the majority of sales are done. You want to have a worldwide simultaneous launch. Having said that, this'll be our sixth platform launch, and it's very difficult to have the quantities to be able to launch on a worldwide basis on the same date." Tretton noted that the goal might overshoot reality -- leading him to pare down the initial promise. "I think our goal is, we would get at least one territory out by the end of holiday 2011." A clearer plan should become visible by fall, well after unforeseen production challenges have been dealt with. Tretton added that Sony had its challenging experience with PlayStation 3 to inform the NGP's road to mass production. "I think we'd look to avoid repeating that, but when you're dealing with new technology there are always roadblocks."
