SCEE President David Reeves Speaks

What does the promising PlayStation Network mean to Sony bosses - and will their own promises be fulfilled?

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So, we've shown you everything from your future life in Home and the karaoke extravaganza of SingStar, to the pitfighting of WarHawk, and even got a sneaky peek at David Jaffe's development plans for the future of the PlayStation Network. But what does it all mean to the SCE executive board?

Reeves speaks at the SCEE event that heralded PlayStation Network

"The PlayStation Network is, in fact, an interactive evolving environment which opens the door to a new world of exciting entertainment opportunities. It sounds like words, but the words describe what it is. We are opening the PlayStation door, and there's going to be a lot inside... things that you can touch, feel and download."

So says David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, speaking earlier this month at the venue where we met all the developers for this coverage.

And he promises there are no exceptions to PlayStation Network being free to browse: "It will offer a wide range of downloadable content that will appeal to a breadth of consumers right from the launch. We are just not restricting it to what is sometimes called as a cliche hardcore gamers. Very soon we are going to broaden this out to male, female, young and old. We are not trying to develop it from simply a sphere of hardcore gamers from the get go, we're trying to develop it from the broad range, largely the profile we had from PlayStation 2."

What are the benefits of joining the PlayStation Network? In his own words: "One: On-demand interactive entertainment with exclusive content," he explains. "Two: You can communicate with a community of players, friends and family, and we have created space for content co-creation. Co-creation means user-generated content, content you can exchange, and eventually content you will be able to offer for sale."

According to Reeves' presentation on May 11 (all of which was embargoed until May 17th), over 400,000 PlayStation Network accounts have been created, 37% of PS3s registered, and daily sign-in is 400,000. In the US it's 550,000-600,000; about half that in Japan, he said.

"We will have in-game and in-network advertising opportunities, not only for third-party publishers in games, but for non-game entities, people who are big players in the brand world, but also, eventually, for the users, to be able to advertise on our network."

As consumers digest their media in increasingly varied ways, video on demand is an essential part of the mix, and one that needs to be central to the PS Network experience. "I can't give you a time but it is not in the distant future," said Reeves. "It will be within this calendar year. It will not be in all of our PAL territories but it will be in the major territories. It will be full-length movies, music, TV programmes, direct to the users via PS3 and via PSP."

Classic PSone games are coming in the summer too; available in about 3 months. But they will "have to be repurposed for PAL territories," said Reeves. "We have to be very careful to get the quality right, that's why it's taking a little bit longer. But they will be there for the summer."

As always, it will take a bit longer to put up content because of the different languages, character sets and currencies of the different PAL territories. (It sucks being part of the PAL problem - we only need English so if it was up to us, we'll just take the American version thank you very much).

Total downloads on the Network are at 2.5m on an installed base of 850,000, and the top downloads are Gran Turismo HD, the Casino Royale trailer, and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection (60,000 over PAL territories). He added that the PSN title flOw is a "very much sought after billable title." And, of course, the top online game is Motorstorm.

"What we are trying to do is to put up games there which are groundbreaking, original and using the real top class developers who know how to develop these particular games. We don't want to make the mistake of putting things up there that you've seen before."

Added May 22, 2007:
• NO PLACE LIKE HOME - Pete Edward Interview
• MEDIA MOLECULE - Hands-On with LittleBigPlanet
• LONDON STUDIO - Paulina Bozek talks SingStar
• RAVN STUDIO - First real details on Snakeball
• SUMO DIGITAL - The inside story on Rub'a'Dub
• DAVID REEVES TALKS - What it all means to SCE
  
  Added May 17, 2007:
• DAVID JAFFE - Talks about Calling All Cars
  
• DYLAN JOBE - The facts about WarHawk PS3
  
• COVERAGE INDEX - Gamers Day / ThreeRooms
  

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