It would be great if the PS3 took the lead from the Xbox 360, says Sony, but it’s not a priority this year.
Despite the Xbox 360 having a year’s head start, the PS3 has gained a lot of ground on it and now only a few million units separate them. This fact is apparently a secondary concern for Sony, however, as the company says that making money is more important than edging ahead of its main competition.
PlayStation software brand manager Scott McCarthy said that profitability was Sony’s goal for the PS3 this year. He said that the company had an aggressive plan to achieve that goal, helped by a strong lineup of exclusives that included the likes of LittleBigPlanet 2, Uncharted 3 and the new Twisted Metal. McCarthy said that Sony obviously paid attention to what Microsoft was doing, but that while taking the lead from the Xbox 360 would be a bonus, the plan wasn’t a failure if it didn’t happen.
It’s not really surprising that Sony would prioritize its own profits over getting the bigger install base. Sony is, after all, a company, and making money is kind of the point. Selling a lot of new consoles is obviously good news for Sony, but making money on the units its already sold is even better. Besides, with so many PS3 exclusives coming out this year – McCarthy also mentions Infamous 2, Resistance 3, SOCOM, and the recently released Killzone 3 – the impact of the Xbox 360’s install base on Sony’s profitability will be diminished anyway.
Source: Industry Gamers
