Nintendo’s head struggles for room as Sony joins it in the sand
‘What is this iPhone thing everyone’s talking about?’
Nintendo has been making questionable assertions the last few days about mobile gaming having never taken off. Not one to be outdone, Sony has just stepped up to have a go as well.
Speaking to CasualGaming.biz, Sony’s UK managing director Ray Maguire insisted the PSP was in position to snatch the casual games business from the mobile gaming industry - despite that particular arm of the industry not really existing.
"We're in a great position to take on the interest in these snacking games and produce them at better quality, lower prices, with lower cost of development - that's a great business model," says Maguire.
So you’ve heard it directly from a Sony MD - PSP games are going to beat mobile games on price.
When it comes to the iPhone, it seem Nintendo’s denial tactic is the only way for Sony to go, too.
“The iPhone has the advantage of being a single device and is growing a reasonable installed base, but it doesn't have the production power that a PSP has,” Maguire says. “As a specific games machine, the PSP is always going to win out.”
It’s not that the iPhone has five times the number of games that the PSP has, or that its distribution model is running both the DS and PSP into the ground, but the supercilious dismissal of serious competition coming from the upper echelons of Sony and Nintendo that’s the worrying aspect.
All three companies are in a position to offer unique qualities and choices to the consumer, but Apple is the only one to acknowledge its competition and make any move to push the market boundaries.
Until Sony and Nintendo can bring themselves to face the competition and make a visible effort to match it, their products will continue to fall behind.
