PS4: Microsoft's policy shake-up had Sony's House "quite literally" scratching his head
PlayStation 4 is out now across Europe and the UK. Sony's Andrew House has reflected on the fact that between generations, little has changed in the way the company does business. He feels that Microsoft's attempt to shake things up with 'always-online' and DRM had the exec, "quite literally" scratching his head.
In an interview with MCV, House reflected on the fact that Sony had to make clear that nothing was changing between PS3 and PS4 - particularly in the areas of game sharing, ownership and online restrictions.
He told the site, “The one thing that surprised me most is that we were required to make such a clear statement that we were going to maintain status quo in areas that we took for granted. That wasn’t something dictated by us, that was by the moves the competition was making. That remains the largest surprise for me – how visceral that reaction was from consumers. But the fact that we had to put a stake in the ground, in an area that we felt was just common sense, still has me quite literally scratching my head.”
Somehow we don't think he's alone there.
VG247 spoke with PlayStation UK boss Fergal Gara about similar issues last night. You can read his thoughts on the UK launch and what comes next for PS4 here.