Sony’s portable, online trading card games.
Today I briefly talked to Gary Podorowsky, VP in Strategic Marketing & Planning at Sony USA. He gave out some basic numbers on Sony’s recent Q3 reporting: $17 billion of its total $64 billion in worldwide revenue comes from the U.S.; $41 billion comes from electronics, and so far they’ve sold (cumulatively) over 200 million PlayStation units.
He described how Sony is trying to break down its “silos” of operations (TV, portable, etc.) in order to reorganize the company so that it may make use of “interoperability” and “cross-communication” even in the early stages of product development. An example of this is the “Sony HD television value network” that essentially is part of the entire process of content production and distribution, from TV cameras all the way to the TV sets in the living room. In markets where Sony was falling behind they partnered up, as they did with Samsung (HDTV) and Ericsson (cellular handsets).
Podorowsky also brought some gadgets, of course: a Sony Reader, PSP, and a Mylo Personal Communicator. All very nice, but unlikely for me to purchase any time soon. But since he kept mentioning Sony’s focus on network-based products, and the Blue-Tooth and WiFi connectivity that comes with it, I wanted to know more about the possibility of downloadable games. Podorowsky mentioned how the UMD wasn’t ideal and agreed that PSP and devices like the Mylo might play a part in the digital distribution of games. Particularly in relation to SOE’s recent interest in trading card games, he expected something along those lines since Sony is developing more network-based applications for the PSP.
Imagine online game play combined with portability that doesn’t involve some sucky interface. Sony already had its own online marketplace around EverQuest, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t be able to figure out how to work out a system of micro-transactions between a user and Sony, and between users. No nonsense with user-generated content, but just a slick variety of a trading card collection that can be played casually during our “discretionary time.” Which, to give an indication of how long that is, Bob Zitter (HBO) demands “short-form programming” consisting of 4-minute episodes (think casual TV audiences). I’m guessing it’s a good idea to keep an eye on SOE Denver, which will most likely spearhead such a development.