Hirai: Removing PS3's Backward Compatibility Was 'Strategy'

Major Japanese video game magazine Weekly Famitsu has published an interview with Sony president and CEO Kaz Hirai, rounding up some of the recent questions surrounding the future of the PlayStation 3 platform, with highlights from the discussion were translated by consumer site 1UP.com. When asked about the decision to remove backwards compatibility from the PS3, Hirai admitted the company discussed the issue at length, but decided, "What is more important is for the users to play PS3 games on the PS3, so our top priority is for them to be playing Blu-Ray games and downloadable content." He added that removing backwards compatibility to be able to sell the console at a lower price point was a strategy to offset the price of PS3 software for consumers. On the recently announced delay of PlayStation Home, Hirai said he felt the effect of the delay would be positive. "I personally am not satisfied with the current version of Home," he said. "This is a very big project for the PS3 and we want to make sure that we deliver to our heart's content." Finally, looking toward the holiday season, Hirai admitted that, while not all of his plans "have turned out 100 percent," he feels the PS3's software situation has improved. The exec concluded: "We've had many that [talked about] lack of software, and finally we are able to deliver them in both packaged and downloadable forms. For me it is like creating a story and most of it is going according to the story. Now we just have to accelerate towards the Holiday season and hope that the consumers would see that our story is an interesting one."