Speaking with MSNBC, Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, downplayed the importance of the previous (unsuccessful for PS3) year in the current console wars.
"The first year is important, but it's the first inning of a nine-inning baseball game," he explained.
The SCEA boss is optimistic about Playstation 3's future. "We're the only company that's gone out and had 10-year product lifecycles and sold over 100 million units - and we haven't done it once, we've done it twice."
"I think in the case of Microsoft, they'd taken the Xbox as far as it could go, and so if they wanted to remain in the business, they had to go back to the drawing board. As for us, we had the luxury of dipping a lot more into the future than maybe our competitors could because of the strength of the PlayStation 2."
Tretton also believes that gamers who don't want to get a Playstation 3 right now, should buy a PS 2 instead. "We realized that not every consumer is going to be ready for what the PlayStation 3 offers in the first year and I don't know that we expect or need them to be ready for it. We need them to be ready for it over the next decade."
" If price is an issue for consumers, and they want a diverse library and they want a more casual gaming experience, the PlayStation 2 is a great machine that addresses all of the above."
Tretton noted that Playstation 2 2007 sales are more than its sales in 2006.
