Kotaku: ray maguire

Sony Says "Nothing Is Ever Exclusive"

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:40:42 MDT

Sony Computer Entertainment UK director Ray Maguire gives fans of Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3 and Tomb Raider: Underworld hope for the future of "exclusive" downloadable content on the PlayStation 3 platform. Each has promised DLC only for Microsoft's Xbox 360, but Maguire tells VideoGamer that "One thing to remember, nothing is ever exclusive."

He has a point. We've watched exclusivity deals dissolve more than once during this generation (BioShock, Final Fantasy XIII).

Maguire, who's been chatty lately, explains to the less big business strategically inclined, "Things get wrapped up for a period of time for a large amount of money and if it's a strategic decision by competition to do that then we have to live with that."

Sony, Mr. Maguire says, has better things to do with its money.

"I would much rather that we were investing money into making sure that we've got great R&D and we start producing games like LittleBigPlanet," he adds, "rather than paying other people a huge amount of money to stop people playing their product."

We're glad that Sony is investing internally, even if it means things like EyePet get greenlighted, but we'd bet some PS3 owners certainly wouldn't mind a well-secured exclusive or two of their own. For the record, we're 99.44% sure this doesn't apply to Metal Gear Solid 4, give or take a few percentage points. Haze, maybe. Definitely maybe.

Sony UK boss on DLC: 'Nothing is ever exclusive' [VideoGamer]

Why No PS3 Holiday Price Cut? Sony Running A Business, Thinking of Shareholders

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:00:00 MDT

What better way to say Happy Holiday than with a console price cut. This year, Sony won't be saying it that way. The company, states Sony Computer Entertainment exec Ray Maguire, "has a business to run" and must "do the right thing" for Sony shareholders. Forget holiday consumer charity! Oh, the brutal honesty, so brutal, so honest. The full Maguire quote:

Well the pressure comes from the consumers obviously and so therefore there's always pressure on price, but you know we have a business to run, and we have to make sure we're doing the right thing for the shareholders as well... At the moment there's a marketplace for PS3 and I think for this particular Christmas, with the kind of quality of games we're seeing coming out this Christmas, I don't think the price of the console is going to be an issue at all.

With so many games going multi-platform, unless a consumer is dead set on getting Sony exclusives, he or she will definitely be shopping on price come this holiday shopping season. Competition will be all the more fierce as rival Microsoft lowered prices for its game console last month.

Sony on PS3 price: We've a business to run [Videogamer]

Sony UK Boss Says E3 Was Like A Plumber's Convention

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:40:00 MDT

More E3 navel-gazing! Can you stand any more? Do try, because this has got to be the last one. Asked for his thoughts on the validity of E3's "new" format, SCE UK's Ray Maguire said:

I think we felt that E3 suffered by not having that grandeur and the theatrical shows that demonstrate this is a business that generates billions of Euros. It was more like a convention for plumbers. But behind closed doors, there was a decent amount of business going on.

If that's a comment on the amount of visible ass-crack on show, Ray, I can assure you, it's all the rage with the kids these days.

Interview: Ray Maguire, MD of SCE UK [TechRadar]

Sony: By 2018, 90% Of Games Will Be Downloaded

Mark Wilson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:40:00 MDT

Sony Computer Entertainment UK's Ray Maguire, amidst a discussion on the Byron Report (chastising it for not keeping up with a growing internet-based industry), made a prediction about the future of games:

...ten years from now the ratio of games sales will have gone from 90 per cent in-store to 90 per cent online.

And while that certainly doesn't sound wrong, I think that I speak for everyone here by saying, we know that we'll be downloading games in ten years. We're wondering more about the next five.

Sony: Web sales will rule by 2018 [MCVUK]

Sony Teases Firmware 2.4 and New Chat Functionality

Mark Wilson — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:20:22 MST

While Sony just took the time to confirm that 1 million PS3s had sold in the UK, it was a quote from SCEE managing director Ray Maguire that got us all hot and bothered:

Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios.

Let's start the semantics minigame. Does Maguire mean that we'll see the 2.4 update in the summer? And does that mean we'll see in-game XMB?

Let the arguments commence! UPDATE: It looks like he may have been talking about this.

Sony hails retail as PS3 hits 1m [MCV]

Europe Loves PS3, Buys 600,000

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:20:35 MDT

After record breaking sales figures were announced in the UK for Sony's latest PlayStation, it should come as little surprise that the rest of Europe so ravenously snapped up PLAYSTATION 3s. True, at 599, moving some 600,000 PS3s into gamers hands is a little surprising, but Europe loves them some PlayStations.

The BBC reports that of the 1 million PS3s shipped to retailers, 60 percent were sold through to customers. We're not sure if bacon butties were the main draw for consumers or if it was confusion that each PS3 comes with a Sony Bravia 46" HDTV, but something must've gotten into those Euros.

Maybe it's Launch Fever! Michael McWhertor

PlayStation breaks sales records [BBC News]

Why's That Euro PS3 So Damn Pricey?

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:20:02 MST

When the PLAYSTATION 3 launch details were announced for the European territories, our 'PAL's across the Atlantic didn't have kind things to say about the pricing. A retail price of 425 is pretty hard to swallow, especially when you figure that the currency conversion equates to about $830 in the US or 101,000 in Japan. The 60GB model retails for $599 US and 59,980 in those territories, respectively, for the record.

That huge price gap left many Europeans, quite used to getting it in the wallet, a little steamed.

So PS3 blog ThreeSpeech went right to the source, Sony Computer Entertainment's UK managing director Ray Maguire, to ask the obvious: "Why is the PlayStation 3 425 in the UK when it is the equivalent of 300 in the US and 250 in Japan?"

His answer?

Here's a snippet:

If you just take the pound against the Euro over the last few months, you'll see that the swing between 0.68 and 0.66 would make a difference of 12 on a straight conversion. We don't deal with consumers using a varying RRP - we don't say to them: "Today, you're RRP is 500, but tomorrow, by the way, you'll have to redo all your POS because it's 600." We have to take a reasonable guess. When it comes to looking at the total infrastructure, we have to build it down from the RRP. The UK, in particular, is quite expensive to deal with. Transport costs a lot of money. There's taxation which is obviously government-controlled, so is more onerous. The cost of living is high, therefore people need to be paid more money at retail and in our own operations than some of our European counterparts.

That's a sampling of paragraph four of his six paragraph explanation as to how the pricing it set. You can read on, and look for comfort, but you aren't likely to find it. You will however find very in depth details on how Sony determines pricing throughout the PAL territories. And you might just walk away with a bit of a headache. Michael McWhertor

RAY MAGUIRE INTERVIEW [ThreeSpeech]