Sony Anticipates Slow Adoption of Move

Sony doesn’t expect gamers to rush out and buy PlayStation Move, instead counting on word-of-mouth growth.

Even with the success of the Wii, it remains to be seen whether the gaming masses will pick up Move or Kinect at launch. In fact, Sony Computer Entertainment Senior Vice President Ray Maguire believes that they largely won’t. In an interview with Eurogamer yesterday, Maguire downplayed first day sales expectations for Move, adding that the device will only catch on through demonstrations and word-of-mouth advertising.

“Move is a natural extension in the same way as we brought EyeToy to PS2,” Maguire said. “Exactly as with EyeToy in the PS2 days, it’s a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it. Am I expecting a massive day one? Not particularly. We didn’t with EyeToy, either. It went on to be massively successful.”

Maguire believes that Move will become a success as early adopters fall in love with the device and show it off to their friends. He stated, “As people saw the value when they tried it [EyeToy], they told their friends. Their friends bought it. They told their friends. Word of mouth grew the marketplace. That’s what I expect from Move as well.”

While first day sales may not be high, Maguire does believe that certain factors will position Move ahead of Microsoft’s Kinect when it launches in November, “When we see people sampling it the outcome is everyone’s delighted by the experience. That’s the most important thing. The creativity in terms of the games being created for it already show a marked difference from the genres we had in the EyeToy space. We’re starting to think about Move and how you use that in games like LBP or Killzone, some major games. With that attitude it starts becoming less of a novelty and more of just another way of enjoying the games we all know and love.”

It is nice to know that Sony plans to support the Move for the long-term, regardless of early sales figures.

PlayStation Move hits American shelves on September 19th in a variety of different bundle options. At least 20 Move games are expected to launch by the end of next March, including the recently-announced Killzone 3.

Source: Eurogamer