2009 was a great year for the PlayStation 3 worldwide. But here in India, the success of the PS2 made the year twice as nice for Sony. So we felt it was just the right time to get in touch with Sony Computer Entertainment India country manager Atindriya Bose for some reflection on the year gone by and his thoughts on the year ahead. This is our fourth sit down with the PlayStation India boss (read the first three here, here, and here) and this one comes almost two years after the last one, so we have lots to catch up on. So let’s get straight to it.
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Before I get into the various aspects of PlayStation, what do you think of specialist games retail with the likes of Milestone and E-Xpress coming in, and many of the established games retailers now expanding online?
I think there is definitely a role that specialist retailers can play. On one hand, you have the metros where you do have retail chains selling games, but the people there don’t know much about gaming, so games aren’t displayed ideally, or the sales people there aren’t really able to help a customer out. So when you have a specialist store like a Game4U, even without the sales staff, it is visually very helpful to the customer, because you have a large array of games on display, arranged by platform and genre to make things easier for the customer. The same applies to Games: The Shop and older stores like Origin Games, although on a smaller scale.
On the other hand, there is a massive untapped market in the smaller cities, where the only games available are at Planet M stores, and you never know what sort of selection they may have. There is potential there, but again, profitability may be an issue. Store space will be cheaper, but inventory management is a challenge. I think as important as specialist retail, is that chains like Croma and Ladmark get more involved in gaming and make their gaming sections more well-informed and consumer-friendly, because their stores are widespread and are already able to reach many more gamers. There can also be a third alternative, where for example, there could be a Game4U branded section occupying part of a Croma or landmark store, so you have the best of both worlds.
Online too we’ve been seeing a lot of people expanding their businesses, and in fact, a lot of the stores are taking cues from online retailers in terms of game preorders. We really believe that preorders are a great way to create buzz for a game, and it’s great to see the excitement around game preorders.
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Since we last spoke, Hanuman: Boy Warrior and Desi Adda have released. At that time, you had said that the PS2 had an install base of around 350,000. Have the release of these games had a significant impact on the hardware sales?
Currently, we’re estimating a PS2 install base of around 510,000. So it’s nice to go out and say that we have half a million PS2s in India. And even with 60-70 percent of these being modded, it still makes these games sustainable. Looking at this fiscal, we are looking at about 76% percent growth in hardware, so that’s encouraging. We’re estimating about 125,000 units this year, and now grey market PS2 sales are almost negligible. The way things are going, I think India can still grow bigger and bigger.
Unlike two years ago, the new PS2 adopters want something more they can relate to. So games like Hanuman and Desi Adda, which you could say aren’t “gamers’ games”, are seeing a fair response. And now these new PS2 owners want racing games, they want Ben 10. So we have two categories of new adopters; you have pre-teens, and in smaller cities you have college students and even young professionals who are just getting into gaming.
How has the software side of the PS2 performed here?
As far as the smaller cities go, software sales largely depend on the distributors and how their reach and distribution network is. Until now, Sony and EA were the only publishers who had PS2 games locally replicated. But it’s very heartening to see that now we have Sega, Disney, Ignition, and Codemasters replicating PS2 games locally. And we’re talks with more top publishers to begin local replication. Eidos/Square Enix is also seriously looking into this market. And it’s no longer just a promise of the potential that India holds, but the publishers are now seeing the market growing. Even on the pricing front, things are stabilising. We’re even seeing PS3 prices now stabilising at Rs 2,499, where earlier it would often be closer to or over Rs 3,000. We’re expecting the same with PS2 and PSP games, and a lot depends on our distribution, because we need to reach new markets. And while the Indian games that are out now may not appeal to the core gamers, we are able to engage the new gamer in the small cities more easily with them.
How did these two games – Hanuman and Desi Adda, sell?
In terms of standalone sales, Hanuman did around 8,000 units, which is pretty good, and I think it has around another 2,000 units in it. If I include bundles, then that number goes up to 90,000. For Desi Adda, standalone sales on PS2 in the last thee-four months have been around 4,000. But with the summer coming, I think it will end up at around 6,000. On the PSP, we’re estimating around 4,000 units by the end of summer. In terms of Desi Adda bundles, so far we’ve sold around 46,000 on PS2, and around 35,000 on PSP. So Desi Adda overall will do around 100,000, which is great.
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In terms of our strategy, sure, the standalone sales aren’t out of this world, but they aren’t bad at all. At 8,000 units, Hanuman sits just behind games like Need for Speed and God of War. So it’s encouraging. More importantly, when bundled, these games are selling PS2s faster in new markets. The sales are at least 20 percent higher with these bundles than any other bundle we’ve done.
So are these sales enough to encourage you to keep making more India-focussed PS2 games?
There are already three titles in the pipeline. One is based on street cricket, which is being done at Trine. We wanted to release that in time for the IPL, but it looks like it will be pushed back to the end of summer. It’s going to be very arcadey and unlike the cricket games we’re used to. The second game is a cart racing game by Gameshastra, which is currently being called Cart Kings. It’s a racing game, but with bullock carts in a rural setting. One thing we’re wary of and want to avoid is this game being stereotyped as “what Indians do”. We’re planning to release this just after Diwali. Towards the end of the year, we have a game from Immersive Games based on Chandragupta. This will be a story-driven action-adventure title. All three of these games will be on PS2 as well as PSP.
You may have also heard about Smash and Survive, the first India-developed PS3 game that is developed by Zen Technologies. They’re looking for publishers, and they’ve approached us as well as others. Eklavya from GameShastra is more a proposal that has come to us. There’s also a big move towards PSP minis and PSN titles, and Indian developers are doing well in those areas. So things are happening in Indian.
I have been specifically been told to ask you – will there be another SingStar Bollywood?
To be honest, not anytime soon. We didn’t get the sort of response we had expected from SingStar Bollywood. And with this being an internationally-controlled franchise, the process of going about making it happen is also a lot more tedious.
Next page: PSN India – The how, what, and when.
Internationally, the PSP has been going through some tough times, and you told me a little earlier that PSP sales had slowed down a bit last year. So how are things looking now?
I wouldn’t like to comment on other territories, but worldwide, Sony is looking at 10 million in PSP sales for this year, and over 4 million for the third quarter alone.
Is that because there’s a God of War game in the third quarter?
(laughs) No comment. I really cannot respond to rumours and speculation.
But coming back to your question, as far as India goes, we lost some momentum with the PSP last year, and by the end of the year, we had about a 20-25 percent growth. People may have been holding off on buying a PSP due to the uncertainty around whether the PSP 3000 was hacked or not. That’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality of our market. At the same time, PSP software sales have been good. Additionally, there is now more competition from mobile phone gaming. But people then realised that getting a gaming experience that is even close to what the PSP offers on a mobile phone will cost you over Rs 20,000. The PSP offers you a better gaming experience at less than half that. So there was initially a rough period, but now we’re seeing the PSP growing again. We’re seeing PSPs being gifted a lot, and it’s great to see retailers taking the initiative to promote the platform. Also I think there is a broader consumer demographic for the PSP than there is for the PS2 and PS3. The casuals prefer the PS2 and the core gamer has a PS3, but both the casual and the core gamers game on the PSP, and that’s great for us.
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This summer, we’ll be introducing the coloured PSPs. We’ll be offering the PSP in red, white and pink colours, and this is more targetted towards the younger audience; the pre-teens. In the West, there’s been about a 25 percent increase in sales when these SKUs are introduced. In India, we’re expecting that to be around 15 percent. We’ll also be bundling these coloured PSPs with two games – Daxter and LocoRoco. And of course, we have many new games coming out this year, so we’re excited.
What’s the likelihood of a price drop on the PSP?
Under the current conditions, it will be very tough to bring it down, especially since we’re bundling games with it. It’s very unlikely that we’ll see a drop in the price this year. And we’re very eager to figure out how the GST (Goods and Services Tax) affects us, because it could have a real impact.
You knew this next question was coming – when is India getting PSN?
For the first time, I actually have some positive news on this. We’re in a position where we should be able to roll it out this year. We’re already working on the store integration. Sony has seen the PS3 numbers here and they’ve seen the number of PSN registrations from India. As of January, the PS3 install base in India is around 50,000, and 60 percent of that is already registered on PSN. So that’s encouraging, and it definitely helps our case.
It’s too early to say what sort of content we’ll see on the PSN Store. We probably won’t see videos and comics for a while; initially it will be only game content. First and foremost, our focus will be to get the store up and running and making all the free content available. And we’ll take it from there.
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How will payment work?
Indian credit cards will work. We can even introduce prepaid PSN cards, because many Indians are apprehensive about using their credit cards online. Looking at developing markets like in the Middle East, there the prepaid cards are the preferred mode of buying store content. So it is quite important that sooner or later we introduce PSN cards.
Wouldn’t it be easier to let us use Indian credit cards on the US or UK store?
A separate payment gateway has to be created for India, with an added layer of security as per RBI regulations. So allowing Indian cards to work on the US or UK store is just not possible. But all that will be in place for the Indian store.
Which currency will the store use?
It will either be Dollars or the equivalent Rupee value, but we still have to work that out.
So once PSN comes, will that mean that collector’s editions of games will also release in India?
We used to bring collector’s editions to India, but we’ve been holding them back because of the PSN store content that comes with them. Once the store comes in, we’ll definitely bring them back. I can always tell Sony that releasing PSN content won’t be a problem because PS3 users here are already indirectly on PSN. But they look at the legality of it; that releasing content here, which requires a service that isn’t available in India, could be a problem. Once we have the PSN store here, that gets sorted out automatically.
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The last year has been great for the PS3 internationally, with big games, the slim SKU, and the price drop. What’s it been like here?
Each of the big game releases – from Killzone 2, to inFamous, to Uncharted 2, have dramatically boosted PS3 sales here. The popularity of inFamous in particular was beyond our expectations. Even the big games that have released on other platforms, like Call of Duty and Batman, have helped the PS3 greatly, and the PS3 has now become associated with these games. And then when you end the (financial) year with a game like God of War III, it’s just the icing on the cake. God of War III, in fact, took some of the attention away from another great game, which was Heavy Rain. It sort of missed out on the media attention as well with the impending release of God of War, but we’re very happy with how it’s performed sales-wise considering its target audience.
What do you make of the street date breaks and having to release games like Killzone 2 and God of War III before the official release date?
God of War III’s was a strange situation. Firstly, our official release date was never 19th; it was the 17th. And with 16th being a holiday and a weekend before that, we started sending out stock to retailers before the weekend, so that there wouldn’t be a delay on account of the weekend and holiday. Due to some miscommunication, it was thought that the release date was brought forward, so the retailers who were taking preorders started shipping out the game early.
Next page: PS3: God of War III, Move, 3D
So how have God of War III sales been?
Amazing! We did around 9,500 units on day one. We’ve just received our repeat stock, but we’re not going to put that in stores; we’re going to use those for the 250 GB PS3 console bundles. We’ve had to place another order to supply to distributors and retailers. So the response has been far, far beyond our expectations.
In the past, bundles came in as is from Europe. Will Sony start bundling locally now?
Yes, there were many complications earlier in terms of packaging. Since, along with Russia, we’re a separate region from most of Europe, the packaging had to be done differently for us. So it will be much easier for us to bundle the games in locally rather than importing the bundles from Europe. It will also mean that we can decide which games we would like to bundle.
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So what will the pricing be like for these bundles?
God of War III will be bundled with the 250 GB PS3 for Rs 22,490, while the 120 GB PS3 will still be available at Rs 19,990 without any game bundled in.
Any chance of a price drop for the PS3?
No. Not in 2010-11 at least.
What sort of impact do you think PlayStation Move will have in India?
For India, this is massive. Because here, besides the gamers, we’re seeing a lot of people buying the PS3 for its entertainment features. So Move comes at just the right time to get these families into gaming through motion-controlled games. The Wii has created some level of awareness about motion-controlled gaming in India, but beyond a point, the Wii doesn’t hold the same challenge that Move brings in. I’ve seen people play tennis on the Wii by just flicking their wrists. That defeats the purpose of motion-controlled gaming. So the precision and sensitivity of Move, plus the wide array of games for all audiences will really have a major impact in India. I’ve seen pick-up-and-play games for the whole family, and I’ve seen complex games like SOCOM, so the PlayStation Move has something for everyone. We’re expecting a 100 percent growth in PS3 sales this year, and the PlayStation Move will play a big role in that.
A very important factor for India will be the pricing. Internationally, Sony is saying the start-up kit will sell for below $100. What will the Indian price be like and what configurations will Move be available in?
You will have the main bundle, which is a PlayStation Eye and a PlayStation Move controller. Then you will have the single controller, but that won’t be the primary SKU. The third is the sub-controller, which is optional, and you can even use the DualShock 3 instead of the sub-controller. From the Indian perspective, pricing is still up in the air.
Can you at least give us an estimated price?
Below Rs 5,000 is the safest thing I can say, because how much lower it will be, I can’t really say right now.
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Do you think 3D on the PS3 will have any sort of impact in India since it will require special hardware and peripherals?
Television manufacturers, Sony included, are very bullish about 3D. We’ve already launched 3D-compatible TVs, and Samsung and LG are advertising theirs. After experiencing 3D movies, people now seem to want that experience at home. If anything is going to hold it back, it’s the cost and accessibility of the 3D glasses. As for as the PS3 goes, we’re in a great position, because all PS3s will support 3D video and games via a future firmware update. 3D games are a very appealing prospect.
One game that will use 3D and, to an extent, motion controls as well, is Gran Turismo 5. Can you give us any indication as to when it will finally hit stores?
I think that with the level of perfection that they’re striving for, they don’t want to rush the game. So even internally, all that’s being told is whether it’s coming in the first half or second half of the year. It’s the most awaited game, but as for narrowing down a release date, all we know is that it is most likely to release before the holiday season.
So would Q3 be an accurate release window for GT5?
Yes, that’s the indication we’re getting.
Next page: Warranty and support, launch events, etc
There seems to be a slight shift in your approach towards launch events and consumer events like PlayStation Experience. Will we continue to have launch events for games?
We were supposed to have a launch event for God of War III, but due to the clash in dates with the FICCI Frames event, we had to cancel it. But yes, we will have launch events for all our major titles, and of course, PlayStation Move will be big for us, so we’ll certainly do a lot around that. Then we have consumer contact programmes. The way we’re going about that now is we’re trying to reach core gamers through college festivals, whereas the more mainstream events, which we’re still calling PlayStation Experience, are smaller because we want to do more of them. This is mostly for a family audience, and here too, we’ll be focusing a lot on the PlayStation Move.
One very interesting thing about the PlayStation Experience event in Mumbai earlier this year was that you didn’t have any non-Sony games there. Not even FIFA. So is the focus of these events solely first-party from now on?
When we used to do PlayStation Experience on a bigger scale a few years ago, we used to sell that zone to EA, so there was a commercial aspect. Yes, FIFA is a big game, but if I’m going to have FIFA there now, which is from a third-party publisher, then I should also oblige WWC by having Call of Duty there, or let E-Xpress showcase Batman. The space we had there was already occupied with our games which we were showcasing across the three platforms. Whether that’s the correct or wrong way to go about it, I don’t know. But yes, we are looking for some sort of partnership, and if we are planning future events, we will contact our publishing and distribution partners and offer them space to showcase their games.
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With PSN coming, will we also start to see those peripherals that weren’t available here earlier, like the Bluetooth headset and the chatpad?
Yes, we will bring those in. We don’t think there will be a huge demand for these peripherals, so we will probably supply these to specialist retailers and retail chains in specific regions.
One of the questions most IVG members wanted me to ask you was about the warranty and service for the PS3. It’s probably the biggest reason people are apprehensive about buying a PS3. Are you planning any policy changes regarding warranty and servicing?
For now, the warranty and service policies will remain unchanged. Setting up a service centre for the PS3 is still not feasible or cost-effective for us. What we will do now though is to maintain a large swap pool, which is a stock of consoles that can be given in exchange for under-warranty consoles, so the customer doesn’t have to wait a long time for a replacement. We should have this pool of consoles in place by Diwali.
The delays in under-warranty replacements has been a huge problem. People are having to wait over a month at times to get a replacement.
That is very strange, because the moment a non-working under-warranty PS3 comes in, a replacement is to be given. The service center professionals don’t have the permissions or the expertise to diagnose issues with the PS3 hardware, so beyond checking the cables, there is nothing for them to do but to issue a replacement once they have verified that there’s no physical damage on the unit. So if anyone is facing a long delay in getting a replacement, I would request you to send me their case IDs, so we can look into it.
Is there any possibility of offering a paid extended warranty?
Sony India does offer extended warranty for some of its products, so I can discuss the possibility of offering the same for the PS3, provided it is economically viable.
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Do you see Blu-ray manufacturing picking up in India, and maybe even one day extending beyond movies to include PS3 game manufacturing?
In India, we’re in a fortunate position to have Sony electronics, music, movies, television, and PlayStation here so we have an advantage in that sense. We’ve started evaluating whether there is a big enough market for Blu-ray in India. I’ve been pushing Sony DADC (disc manufacturing) to go ahead with it. The biggest factor is how fast Indian content comes to Blu-ray, and the quality of that content. If you look at the current Bollywood offerings on Blu-ray, they look like upscaled DVDs. So once we start seeing a move towards proper Blu-ray-worthy HD content from India, it won’t be long before they’re manufactured here, especially considering that even prices on imported Blu-rays are always dropping. I don’t see that taking any longer than one year from now. And once that happens, and there is a Blu-ay production line at DADC here, we can easily start manufacturing PS3 games here.
Finally, how do you see Sony PlayStation growing in the next 12 months across the three platforms?
I think the PS3 is on a roll right now, and now we will focus on the in-store experience. We want people to try out its many features, especially once Move comes in. But in terms of mass communication via TV and print, we will continue to focus on the PS2 and PSP, because the distribution width has now greatly increased, and doing in-store demos for an entry-level console like a PS2 isn’t practical. Over the last two and a half years, we’ve sold around 225,000 PS2s. So now if we can get even 10 percent of these people to move up to the PS3 this year, that’s a decent number. In order to showcase the sort of quality, high-end entertainment that’s on show on PlayStation, we have the PSP and PS3. But the primary focus is to keep getting more and more people to start gaming, and the PS2 and PSP are the best ways to achieve this. So the PSP will play a dual role, but we’re very excited for all three platforms in the coming year, and we’re confident that we’ll see a very healthy growth for all three, thanks to some great games that are on the way.