Sony is launching a cheaper PS3 unit in Europe, and with the diminishing significance of the Wii, the company thinks it is well set up to do well in the region. Indeed, the company is looking to have PS2-like longevity for the console now.

“We see ourselves well positioned for the casual market who won’t buy Wii U on day one,” said managing director of PlayStation U.K., Fergal Gara. “We’ve got a wow moment, we feel. I remember when people picked up the Wii controller for the first time, that was a big moment, it was a casual market breakthrough, but we thing we’ve got a casual market breakthrough as well with Wonderbook and the lowest priced PS3 yet.”

“If you look at the casual market overall in the last few years, there’s no doubt that the kings of that market has been Nintendo, they have done a great job with a great product,” he said. “If you look back even further, I think Sony has done a great job with the PS2 in the casual market with games like Singstar.”

Speaking of the Wii U, he said, “I don’t think it’ll be the same market. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what market will pick it up. I have no doubt that people will be interested in the Wii U at launch. What the medium-term looks like, I don’t think we know enough about what consumers will think.

“If you look at the spread of the software, I think it gives a very broad message, from Nintendo’s own products to core current-gen games. But will Call of Duty fans want to play Call of Duty on the Wii U I’ve no idea. It feels like a stretch from the market they’ve been in. So clearly Nintendo is going for a broad proposition,” he added. “I’ve yet to meet someone who has picked out the killer experience. But it’s the market that will decide so we’ll watch it with interest. Even we find it hard to judge the potential of the Wii U. Clearly people like getting their hands on it, but I just don’t have much info on how many people want to buy it in the medium-term.”

Not surprisingly, Gara says that Sony is looking to support the PS3 for years, hinting that their next console offering is not close. “We’re nowhere close to giving up on PS3,” Gara said. “When you look at the UK market, it’s easy to say that current consoles are fading. But if you look at PS3, it’s holding up a lot better than others, so it warrants support. But if you look at continental Europe, PS3 hasn’t even peaked yet. Why would you run away from a console business when you’re not even top of the hill We’re certainly not going to run away from it.”

While the PS3 has potential, Gara acknowledges the issues of giving Microsoft a head start with their next console “We do have a challenge to manage that, particularly in terms of dev studio resources,” he replied. “The more platforms you have, and the amount of rich content you have to deliver on all the systems you are supporting, clearly puts pressure on decisions made across the studio network, which is something we are battling with.”

Sony doesn’t have a big AAA release for the holidays this year, possibly due to winding up for their next-gen console, but Gara is optimistic regardless. “I take huge confidence in what is coming down the line though. Of course we’d love to have a new triple-A game, but we have a great strategy for this holiday period,” he said. “We don’t have to talk to the same audience all the time. We have a stronger play on family this Christmas, and for the core games we will leverage third parties a bit more. I’m convinced we’ve got some great games coming out next year, such as The Last of Us and Beyond.”

Source: CVG {link no longer active}