Sony: Our competitors are "losing the plot" with gamers

Sony’s Jack Buser has said the company's console rivals “lost the plot" with gamers during E3.

The company's head of digital games criticized both Microsoft and Nintendo for neglecting core gamers during their arguably disappointing press conferences. The former, for one, introduced SmartGlass, as well as making other non-gaming announcements such as bringing Internet Explorer to the Xbox 360. Sony, however, rightfully stressed that their press conference was focused entirely on the gamer.

"We are for the gamer first and foremost. Everything we do at PlayStation, we ask ourselves first, what’s right for the gamer? And at our press conference, we really stood up and put both our hands in the air and said, look, we are for gamers first and foremost. While some of our competitors, seemingly, are losing the plot, forgetting what built this industry. It was the gamer. We remain incredibly focused on the gamer, and our press conference really drove that home.

"You will see other companies really spend a lot of time and energy trying to legitimize themselves in the non-game entertainment space, because it’s not part of their company’s DNA. Nor do customers trust that they can bring that type of entertainment to the living room or on the go. With the Sony brand behind a PlayStation, our customers intuitively know that non-game entertainment is a core part of our DNA.

"We’re seeing other companies spend a lot of time and energy trying to legitimize themselves in the space, and unfortunately what happens is they can very quickly lose the plot with gamers. That’s quite dangerous. That’s why we at PlayStation very much put the gamer first and foremost. We are interested in bringing the kinds of non-game entertainment to the PlayStation that our gamers expect to see. That’s why you see services like Hulu and Amazon Instant Video deploying on PlayStation 3 first."

Buser added that first-party titles showcased during Sony's E3 presser such as The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls are two leading examples of experiences gamers yearn, with the titles also “pushing what a console game can be to the next level.”

"It’s not yet another rehash of the same old thing, these are truly innovative, genre-breaking experiences that can only be found on PlayStation. Everything we’re doing is for the gamer first and foremost, and I think that… I was proud to be a PlayStation employee at this E3."

I'd have to agree with Buser's sentiments regarding Microsoft's lack of focus on the core gamer. Sure, we understand they want to make the Xbox 360 an entertainment device and ultimately expand beyond the gaming space, but the console is and always has been predominately a gaming platform. As for Nintendo, they didn't have the best of E3s either regarding their actual software announcements. Apart from Pikman 3 and a few other exceptions, it's understandable why gamers are touting 2012 to be Nintendo's worst E3 yet. Let's also not forget they failed to make any announcements pertaining to the Wii U's price and hardware specifications.

Although Sony also failed to make any considerable surprises regarding announcements -- most of of the games showcased were either leaked or confirmed beforehand -- they at least focused on just the games. Granted, they didn't have an emphasis on the PlayStation Vita when it could have benefited from exactly that, but that doesn't detract from the slew of quality titles displayed including the debut gameplay footage of The Last of Us.