So can you speak to the internal response at Sega to Sony’s efforts? Like, were they scared, were they nervous? Did they view them as an upstart?
I left before Sony really established their dominance in the space. Just like I said earlier, there was not a lot of fear. It was, “Uh, Sony really thinks they can come in there? We’ve done this for years. We’re the experts.” That’s really what it felt like. But man, Sony established their stronghold pretty quickly. And by the time PS2 came around, they were such a dominant player over even Nintendo at the time. I think it really did take everyone by surprise.
Then, as we’re going into PS2 launch, Sony’s well-established. There was more of an actual horse race during the N64, PS1, PS2 era, because they all kind of coexisted for a while. What was your reaction to the PS2 launch?
There were only a couple of titles there at launch, but you knew the machine was special. So, I think that during that time frame in the couple of years post-launch, it was a really great time to be a developer. I mean, there was a great machine out there that could do things that no other machine could ever do before. And for me personally, as a gamer and a big fan of sports games, it was a great sports gaming machine. Right?
Right.
I think a lot of people had a lot of fun playing sports, myself included. I put tons of time into games like Madden back in the day. We put a lot of time into those games. I think that you also just started to see scratching the surface of online shooter games as well with the introduction of the SOCOM franchise.
I think that was something that, when the online adapter came out for the Playstation 2, and people started really investing heavy amounts of time playing online shooters like SOCOM, that was really revolutionary for its time when SOCOM went online. I had some friends that went so head over heels into SOCOM addiction. I mean they really spent hours upon hours playing that game because they hadn’t experienced anything like it before on a home console. That was pretty revolutionary stuff.
I have to say with regard to the online adapter and Sony’s strategy around the PS2, a lot of people felt like they got in the game late with regard to online play. It’s all water under the bridge at this point, but do you feel like that hurt them in any way?
I don’t think so. When you look at the overall success of the PS2, I think that machine had a pretty secure spot at the peak of the gaming industry for a long time, and I think people welcomed that adapter with open arms. When the machine came out, the timing just wasn’t right for that adapter to be there. This is one thing that Sony has always been very good at, is making sure that their machines can adapt to the needs of the consumers over the whole life cycle of the platform.
So Playstation 2 has been out there for about 10 years, and it was been able to evolve during that period, and you’re seeing the same thing happen with the PS3, with the launch of Move. These are big additions to the platform. It’s something that you know, buy a Sony machine, and, they are going to follow the needs of the consumers. That’s something that even before I worked here, I appreciated as a gamer.