Thread: Piracy affected the PS3

Has piracy affected the PS3 significantly?

It has to an extent, but it's not nearly as bad as it is on PS2. A lot of people are aware of the abil*ity to pirate, but they're also aware of what they would potentially lose by going that route. You miss out on the online, connected experience, as well as the benefits of new firmware. There is a segment of garners who have gone the piracy route, and while it hasn't significantly impacted the sales of PS3 games, it has lowered the rate of the growth we've been seeing.

Any chance of a PS3 price drop soon?

As of now, no. There is, however, a new PS3 chassis being discussed. A slightly different design, but from what I can tell, not much differ*ence in functionality.

Will you continue to push the PSP now that the PS Vita is coming?

We will. It's a bit like what we did with PS2 and PS3. You'll have the Vita at the high end and PSP at the entry level. It's a strategy that works very well for . country like India.

So when can we expect the PS Vita in India?

It will be around the same time as European release - end of the year.

Will we get both the Wi-Fi and Wi*Fi/3G versions?

We're evaluating that. For the 3G version, we'll be looking to tie-up with a 3G operator. We have the example of iPhone 4 to go by, so we're very tempted to bring it in. The only problem is that the 3G landscape itself is so patchy that I'm not sure you can have a deal with just one operator. We're quite reserved in our strategy, so we don't want to release the 3G version without an opera*tor partnership in place. In a market with full 3G coverage, a one-operator partnership works, but if we have to go with multiple partners, the volumes won't be justified.