Sony’s tactic of directly addressing how its PlayStation 4 policies differ from the Xbox One’s at E3 2013 is a strategy that was influenced by the controversy surrounding Microsoft’s console, SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told the Japanese magazine Famitsu (via Polygon). Yoshida received plenty of feedback on Twitter that helped him formulate Sony’s strategy for the show, he said. “It’s not that our hardware policies are decided strictly based on user reaction like this, but when we were thinking about what we had to bring across and how to bring it across, [that feedback] was a very useful source,” he said.
“For this system, we made a list of what people expected from us, debating over each point, with user feedback forming the main basis for the list,” SCE Japan Asia President Hiroshi Kawano added.
During its highly publicized E3 press conference, Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 “supports used games,” requires no online check-ins, and costs $100 less than the Xbox One. Those admissions led many to declare that Sony “won E3,” when all the company had to do was reveal that its policies are staying largely the same as the next console generation arrives. Microsoft later rescinded its controversial policies, but the PS4 still came out ahead at the most important gaming trade show of the year.
Kawano teased that more PS4 news could arrive at or before the Tokyo Game Show in September, and that Sony is “preparing other opportunities” for people to get their hands on the console as well.
