In a recent interview, Sony Computer Entertainment’s worldwide studios President; Shuhei Yoshida revealed how the negative response to Xbox One’s DRM policies helped Sony make marketing decisions for their upcoming next-gen contender; PS4.
Speaking to Famitsu, Mr. Yoshida said:
“There were lots of people who gave their opinions on that issue to my Twitter account before E3,” .. “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, it was a very useful source.”
Sony seemed to have capitalized on Microsoft’s mistakes in judging and responding to consumer demands and response to their DRM and used games policies.
Whereas Microsoft could not respond to these ardent gamers and their vocal response to their restrictive policies, Sony heard them loud and clear and based their marketing strategy based on their target audiences.
This strategy seemed to have achieved its desired effect as evidenced by the response at the end of their E3 conference as well as the response of the consumers, critics and market in days following the event.
SCE Japan Asia President Hiroshi Kawano explained it as:
“As of now, I feel like we’re getting a very positive response,”… “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. The software makers are also telling us that they feel like they really make some fun stuff with it. A new platform always provides the basis for new forms of play, so I’d like to see it connect to a revitalization of the marketplace.”
So not only were prospective console buyers getting on the PS4 train but game developers also seemed to be supporting Sony’s initiative.
With this successful marketing strategy and Sony’s initiative to listen and promptly respond to consumer response has not only created good will in their partners and fans but also resulted in tangible benefits over their competitor in the form of higher pre-order numbers for PS4 than their competing console.
