Some of you might have already stumbled upon this quote from the Feb 2009 Official Playstation Magazine made by Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment:
“We don’t provide the ‘easy to program for’ console that (developers) want, because ‘easy to program for’ means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?”
I admit that I have yet to read the full article. The statement could also very well be a mis-translation for something along the likes of:
“The console (PS3) is currently very advanced for its time and is therefore understandibly difficult to program for. However, as it’s capabilities are unleashed, there is a potential for continuous improvement in performance from using the same hardware even nine years down the line.”
Even with my sanitized rephasing, when you think about how the PS3 is currently faring against the Wii, or even Xbox360, it still sounds like an excuse.
Software development is bloody hard, and bloody expensive. Among the thousands of video-games being developed, few will be able to justify it’s cost in production. This makes the industry very cutthroat.
The current economic situation will make studios more selective of the titles produced. They will want to control development cost to those with the best probability of returns, and investing on “learning” to use an existing system, when a rival system with a higher consumer base and easier (ergo: cheaper) development cycle will be better targets for those selected titles.
There is an upside, hardware manufacturers will be wary of investing for the next generation, rather they would rather stretch the life of existing systems either via content or cheaper manufacturing costs.
The PS3, generally considered to be the more powerful of the current consoles, has some advantage in that it’s existing hardware would theoretically be able to “adapt” to the times as it’s utilization improves. This, however, presumes that game developers are willing to invest in this learning curve, and that customers are willing to shell-out money for this as of yet unrealized potential.
Which, given the current economic situation as opined above, would be unlikely.
The PS3 is essentially watching the outcome of it’s initial bet (to create a top-caliber hardware system that will profit in the long haul) unfold. Perhaps it will reap it’s rewards during the long tail, but it must stay alive long enough for that time to come.
It may have been just the dehydration talking when Hirai (or his translator?) made his statement. But right now, in the middle of the drought that is the economic situation, in the midst of other creatures striving to survive the times, the PS3 is banking on the expensive tools it invested in for its long trek. That and sheer determination to get to it’s destination alive.
source: CNET news’s The Digital Home via Slashdot
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Your rephrasing sounds much, much better than the statement from Sony
maybe you should give that CEO some advice on making acceptable excuses.