Social gaming has "not had much of an impact in Japan," says Sony

SCEE Worldwide Studios VP Jamie Macdonald has told GI that social gaming on PlayStation platforms has been most popular in Europe, while Japan has yet to take to the concept with any gusto.

"I think... that the success we had in Europe with social gaming in the PS2 era was a surprise," he said. "Nobody foresaw it, and what we're trying to do now is to make sure that this whole new genre is catered for within future PlayStation developments.

"It's not that social gaming was ignored, it's that it was a surprise to everyone - and also, to be frank, from our point of view it's been more of a success in Europe than it has in Japan or the United States. It's still been relatively successful in the US, but I think it's fair to say it's not had much of an impact in Japan."

Despite social gaming's popularity on PS formats in Europe, PS3 wasn't designed with the niche in mind, MacDonald added.

"I don't think PlayStation 3 was designed with any particular genre in mind to be honest," he said.

"I think it was designed as a very high-specification digital media entertainment system."