Home Gaming Refusal to accept a mistake?

Refusal to accept a mistake?

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Jack Tretton One of the fundamental things that I think everyone is told is that when things are not working you need to sit back and assess if you are doing it right and maybe, just maybe, you should change what you are doing.

Apparently this sort of mentality doesn’t exist for Jack Tretton. In an interview with Gamasutra over the past week he came up with the awesome comment…

“We made a line in the sand and made a strategic decision on Home and that’s where we’re going… my understanding is that [Microsoft’s avatars are] a more simplified vision.
That may be enough for some and not enough for others. We are who we are… you have to be who you are. You can’t backpedal down a road if it doesn’t appear it’s going to plan. “

What he misses here is that you really can backpedal if something isn’t going right, especially if the original plan was wrong.

Jack also mentions that they were possibly a little naive when they started the Home development process and misjudged what actually was required.

He also mentions that the cost of entry for third parties is enormous but that they are still there which is a good thing.

Possibly the most disappointing comment he made was the following

It took us a while to figure out what it was and how you’d build it. I’d rather ship it two years from now and have it be filled with a lot of great stuff than open it up as a ghost town

So lets sum it up from an opinionated point of view.

  1. We said we were going to make something that we didn’t fully understand
  2. We don’t think this is a good idea but we are going to continue bashing at it anyway
  3. It’s really difficult and expensive to code for Home
  4. It will arrive one day and we refuse to even guess when that may be

Sony needs to start hiring people who keep their feet out of their mouths a little more.

Source: Gamasutra

Last Updated: July 18, 2008

18 Comments

  1. Banana hammock

    July 18, 2008 at 08:50

    Isn’t this how you push boundaries?

    You come up with an insane idea and then you try to accompish it and when things get tough you don’t cry and run away you stick to it. The only thing they should have done differently is not promised the consumers anything and just said “we are trying to do this and we’ll keep you informed” that’s how it’s ended up now anyway.

    Or maybe they should just do what MS did with the XboX when that wasn’t going their way: Give up and tell your customers tough sh1t, wait for the 360 and we’ll support you then. Lol, sounds exactly like what they do with their OS.

    Reply

  2. JimBob

    July 18, 2008 at 09:03

    I think you’re misintrepeting his comments and taking them out of context. Elsewhere, he has said was that the accountants meddled with the techies and creatives who were creating the service, and that’s why it turned into a mess.

    But now they’ve taken a step back to see where things went wrong and trying to get things back on track. Scoping errors are by no means unusual in projects this ambitious.

    Personally, I really don’t care about home and think the resources could’ve been spent on other things, but I do think after all the work and money that has been spent, they can’t just ditch it wholesale now.

    It’s clear that many aspects of the new Microsoft dash were lifted from home, alebit in a more streamline format – i.e avatars (which are also cloned from Miis), forming parties to launch into games, medals (Microsoft’s answer to trophies, etc) – so obviously amidst the confusion, Sony was onto something but they allowed it to balloon into a monster rather than sticking to the essentials.

    Reply

  3. SlippyMadFrog

    July 18, 2008 at 09:04

    I agree with you about pushing boundries but Home should have never been announced imo. Thats the problem with announcing things way before they are due.

    “Give up and tell your customers tough sh1t, wait for the 360 and we’ll support you then”
    Actualy, they didn’t just give up with the xbox, there was a dispute with nvidia over the display card. At least they gave the Xbox360 backwards compatability. Anywho, would would want to be gaming on an Xbox when the Xbox360 is around?

    Reply

  4. kabraal

    July 18, 2008 at 09:04

    “We said we were going to make something that we didn’t fully understand”

    Happens in every tech industry, everyday, even in our own backyards. Move along.

    Reply

  5. doobiwan

    July 18, 2008 at 09:49

    The difference is that they did “understand” – SOE are one of the largest MMO publishers on the planet, they understand the market very well. On the other hand Second Life has been around for ages and there’s a lot to learn from it.

    Sony ignored both. They saw a “3D online community” sales pitch and ran down that round to out bullet point the competition without thinking, just to regain some momentum at a time they were in dire trouble. Now some sanities returning, they have to figure out how to make this thing work, and they’re stuck with it.

    Good luck to them to figure it out.

    doobiwan’s last blog post..The Games that made the consoles

    Reply

  6. LazySAGamer

    July 18, 2008 at 10:35

    I also agree with the pushing boundaries but when your mouth starts running then you have to back it up and in this regard Sony hasn’t..

    They should have R&D’d it first before going off on a tangent.

    I also understand it’s not all Jack’s fault but he is the Sony mouth at the moment so he needs to take the backlash

    Reply

  7. abev

    July 18, 2008 at 12:10

    ag come on, honestly im getting tired of this. The only reason this article has been published as a negative is cos it was written by a xbot. From a ps3 user, i dont think his comments are bad at all. Lets go play some games

    Reply

  8. SlippyMadFrog

    July 18, 2008 at 12:12

    I agree but don’t anounce it yet until you know how to follow through with it.

    Reply

  9. doobiwan

    July 18, 2008 at 12:14

    Well at least he didn’t cancel it outright. 😉

    Reply

  10. LazySAGamer

    July 18, 2008 at 12:19

    You don’t think it’s bad that he has said we may not get Home for 2 more years, that we must continue to bash our head against the wall and refuse to accept our mistakes?

    I just don’t see the positive here

    Reply

  11. JimBob

    July 18, 2008 at 12:25

    He didn’t say home was delayed for two years – he said he’d rather hypothetically delay it for two years than deliver a sub standard product.

    Sony reps at the show have pretty much said the beta will open in autumn – I reckon they’re waiting for Leipzig to date it because it’s a SCEE initiative.

    Yes, they announced it too soon, and allowed scope creep to bite them in the ass, but really…

    Reply

  12. LazySAGamer

    July 18, 2008 at 12:30

    but really we should let it slide because….

    Seriously why should we sit back and just accept them (the industry) basically lying to us all the time.

    If I promised my client I would have his software to him by March and then a year later said it may still be delayed longer I would most probably be fired.

    Also in my comment I said that Jack mentioned it MAY be delayed for two years…

    Reply

  13. kabraal

    July 18, 2008 at 12:53

    “Seriously why should we sit back and just accept them (the industry) basically lying to us all the time.”

    I’m not coming up for Sony here and yes, delays are a bitch but where exactly did they promise and confirmed a release date for this home thing? I just don’t understand the point you’re trying to bring across. Should we fire Sony? These things happen daily in big organizations. MS had similar stuff-ups with vista and I’m pretty sure, internally heads did roll. It was delayed had a weak release but they kept at it and they themselves definetly did not admit to their mistakes. BUT eventually it seems like they got it right with vista… or so it seems…. Its bitch and while you may be right, you ain’t going to change anything with how these big organizations function. But what exactly do you want them to do, sit back, can home altogether and say “I is sorry”

    Reply

  14. JimBob

    July 18, 2008 at 12:55

    You’re acting like delays are something new – we’ve all sat waiting for games from Valve and ID and Blizzard for years sometimes. Sony should learn from them and make its answer: when it’s done, which is of course the only correct response.

    Hell, who thought we’d still be waiting for FFXIII, GT5, Alan Wake and Splinter Cell Conviction, among others, at this stage? Yes, it’s too bad that things slip, but as long as humans are doing and managing these projects these things will happen.

    Reply

  15. kabraal

    July 18, 2008 at 13:03

    Generally these sorts of things are called “first of a kind” stuff. Most of the times there are going to be promises, delays and even disappointment with the final product. If the fanboys can’t get to grips with that, then they should follow tooth brush development. I’m sure Oral B never had to delay the launch of a new tooth brush for a year.

    Reply

  16. ewie

    July 18, 2008 at 13:09

    gt5 will only release in 2010.

    Reply

  17. kabraal

    July 18, 2008 at 13:23

    bummer…

    Reply

  18. MaXiM

    July 19, 2008 at 01:19

    Who cares… Another boring Car game… 😉 They can delay it till 2012 for all I care.

    Reply

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