The Xbox brand has come a long way since the first console was introduced in 2001, but PlayStation has obviously been around for a lot longer. The PS3 started off slow, but despite the Xbox 360’s one-year head start, the PS3 is closing the installed base gap. Part of that is the Sony brand recognition internationally, says EA boss John Riccitiello.

“Honestly, I think that Microsoft has done great work the last couple of years, and they’ve made a lot of smart moves: hitting pricing when they needed to, the right combination of hitting price points and disk drive sizes that allow them to hit price points that matter, and they ve done a great job with Xbox Live. At the same time, the Xbox brand, the Microsoft brand, doesn’t carry anywhere near as much sway as the Sony and PlayStation brand do outside the United States, and so I think the reality is the international marketplace is just so important and it s a natural advantage that no matter how good Microsoft is at growing their business, Sony has an almost-impossible-to-supersede head start,” he said.

Riccitiello continued, “In the last couple of years, Sony’s sharpened their marketing message, you know, ‘the platform with everything.’ They’ve actually gotten past simply Home as an online connected system for them. While I m not sure that one would compare them in depth and breadth and features and support to what you have at Xbox Live, it s good now.”

EA wants all platforms it makes games for to do well, naturally. And the company is pretty happy with both Xbox 360 and PS3.

“We have a similar share on both platforms,” continued Riccitiello. “It s not that I wouldn t want to criticize one of the other; I’m not shy. I just think they’ve actually both done a pretty good job. The big disadvantage Sony carries is they have an expensive platform because of Blu-ray, so they have a harder time hitting price points. Microsoft has taken advantage of that and their online service, which really is the gold standard. Sony has [leveraged] their limited amount of unique content really well. They’ve done a nice job promoting the Blu-ray, their advertising and marketing campaigns have been stronger, and they ve done a nice job of supporting some EA content to their own advantage. I don t know that you d point to either of them and say they can t shoot straight or that they ve given it up.”

Source: IndustryGamers {link no longer active}