In an interview with GI.biz, Michael Denny, the senior vice president of Sony Worldwide Studios Europe says that Sony needs to adapt to focus more on services and less on product going forward, citing LBP as a clear example. When asked about digital vs. physical game releases,and whether we could see both downloads and discs on day one of a game’s release, he states:
That’s not the important issue for us right now – the actual delivery method. It’s about getting the content right. When we’re talking about the network at the moment it’s also about having network experiences as well. One thing we’re looking at as a big step-change for us is that move from products to services. Going back a couple of years when we launched a game on a disc, you developed it, you tested it, you put it on disc and marketed it, and that was the end of the game. Now, for some games it’s only the start of the game and the service. With LittleBigPlanet’s user-generated content we have to service that correctly, we have to learn what the community needs and we have to make sure we’re providing additional content along the way. So it’s more about the network experience for us.
Its time for a game developer to focus on the content of their game and not just what can make the most money in the shortest amount of time. MM will make a good company in their later games if they continue down this road.
