Game Watch's Interview w/ Sony CEO, Hirai Kazuo Snippets

Recently, Game Watch JP interviewed Sony President/CEO Hirai Kazuo about the state of the PS3. The by line reads:

価格付けは重要だが、楽しんで貰えるプラットフォームにすることが先決

Or, translated by yours truly, "Although pricing is important, making the system enjoyable takes precedence."

In other words, no, they won't be lowering the price of the PS3 anytime. And my dreams are crushed once more.

Anyhoo, a couple more snippets:

平井氏　価格というのは凄く大事です。どんな商品であっても、楽しい商品であればお求めやすい価格のほうがいいのは当然です。ただしそれと同じかもっと大事なのは、「どれだけゲームを楽しんでいただけるか」なのです。「E3」や「PLAYSTATION PREMIERE 2007」でもお話させていただきましたが、“今後のラインナップ”をいかにアピールできて「このプラットフォームは楽しいよね」とユーザーの皆様に思っていただけるかが、まず大事です。

Hirai: No matter what the product, I believe pricing plays a major part. And when it comes to a fun product, it's natural for a person to prefer a more affordable price. But just as important as that is the idea of, "How much will you enjoy your gaming experience?" As I also talked about during "E3," or during the "PLAYSTATION PREMIERE 2007" event, what's most important right now is to really appeal our line up to the user and have them think, "Oh, this platform is really fun."

もちろんやらないですけど、と前置きしておきますが (笑)、仮にPS3を9,800円にしました。でもゲームは出てきません。出てきたゲームは面白くないものばかりです。という状況でしたら9,800円でも何の意味もないものになります。価格は凄く大事なのですが、そのうえで楽しめるソフトがいかに出てくれるかがもっと大事だと思っていますので、どちらが先かといわれれば、まずはライブラリの充実。楽しんでもらえるソフトが一杯あることがまず大事で、それで次に非常に大事な価格がついてくると思っております。

Now, let me just preface this by saying that we won't be doing this (laugh), but let's say we lowered the price of the PS3 to 9,800 Y [from 60,000 Y]. But new games won't come out for it. And those that do aren't any fun. See what I'm saying? There's not reason for lowering the price to 9,800 Y then. Yes, pricing is really important, but so is developing and putting out software that can be enjoyed by the user. And if you ask me what ought to come first, it would have to be the establishment of a rich library of games. It's important to have a lot of titles the users enjoy, after which the extremely importantly matter of pricing will follow.