Sony: 'We Can Really Own Entertainment' With PS3

Sony Computer Entertainment America is launching a new ad campaign focused on repositioning the PlayStation 3 as a "total entertainment solution," the L.A Times reports. Sony's marketing focus on the PS3's multimedia capabilities comes after a couple of years of Sony stressing that its console is first and foremost a gaming machine. While the new ads will have Sony pushing the fact that the PS3 is still a games player, the company will place a bigger emphasis on the machine's other features, such as Blu-ray. "We have been a game company for years and we would never walk away from that, but research confirmed there is a larger proposition under our nose," said Peter Dille, SVP of marketing at SCEA. "We wanted to reposition as a total entertainment solution. We felt like we can really own entertainment." This stance of "repositioning," however, is counter to the company's initial stance on the PS3, which was actually introduced as a total entertainment solution. Further, at the time Sony unveiled the console, the company distanced it from the concept of "game machine." In May 2005, former Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi, the "father of the PlayStation," told CNet that "The PlayStation [3] is not a game machine. We've never once called it a game machine." Additionally, both Kutaragi and former Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison have called it a "computer" in past interviews, suggesting that it had the potential to replace the PC from a holistic entertainment standpoint. Sony cut the price of the PlayStation 3 to $299 from $399 last week and introduced the new PS3 Slim model. Rival Microsoft answered with its own major price cut for Xbox 360. Taking a hint from Nintendo's Wii marketing, Sony will be targeting its new PS3 ads towards "moms and families," Dille said, at the same time focusing on core products like Uncharted 2. Dille told The Times that the new ad campaign is the biggest and most expensive since PS3's launch. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe recently said it was launching its own PS3 campaign in Europe, also the biggest since the console's launch, which occurred over two years ago. Games biz website IndustryGamers posted screens from some of the new ads, which show Sony going in more of a humorous direction. The ads play off of the months of PS3 "Slim" rumors by featuring a corporate-looking man named Kevin Butler, "Director of Rumor Confirmation."