Sony: X360 Head Start 'Not A Significant Advantage'

In a new interview with TheStreet.com, Jack Tretton, Executive Vice President, co-COO, Sony Computer Entertainment America, has addressed several topics concerning the upcoming release of the PlayStation 3, as well as why he and Sony do not feel threatened by Microsoft's head start in the market. When asked about how he perceived the fact that Microsoft will have between 6 and 10 million Xbox 360 units sold by the time the PlayStation 3 launches in November, Tretton replied: “Well, we've never been first to market in any generation. We weren't first when we debuted the original PlayStation. We weren't first with PlayStation 2. It ultimately came down to the system and what consumers preferred. At the end of the day, what you do in the first year, and whether you do 6 or 10 million units does not determine whether you're successful or not. We're looking to sell 100 million-plus worldwide. We're looking to sell 50 million plus in North America.” He added: “So, if a competitor gets to 6 to 10 million worldwide, I would not consider that to be a significant advantage or a significant disadvantage as far as we're concerned." Turning to the loss of exclusive titles and franchises, such as Grand Theft Auto IV, which will launch on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Tretton noted that “the days of locking up exclusive content from a third party and having that be key to your strategy is really a dangerous road to go down because I think with the cost of development, not many developers can afford to do exclusivity. So, really what defines the uniqueness of a platform from a software standpoint are the offerings that you have from first party.” Tretton went on to note that, in regard to the Grand Theft Auto franchise in particular, he does not feel as if not having the popular series as an exclusive for the PlayStation 3 will hurt the company at all.