PS3 is "official" console leader, says Kaz Hirai

Says 360 "lacks longevity"

21 January 2009 22:11 GMT / By Verity Burns

Despite sales figures and reports saying otherwise, Sony is remaining positive about its PS3 console, with Kazuo Hirai claiming in a recent interview that the next-gen console is the industry's "official" leader.

And how did he come to that conclusion you may wonder. Wellm the SCE chairman simply said that Xbox "lacked longevity", estimating the 360 probably had a 4-5-year lifespan compared to Sony's targeted ten-year life span for the PS3.

"So you do the math", he said. "Unless things go really bad, there's no way that at the end of a life cycle our competition is going to have a higher install base".

Selling slower for twice as long is probably not a good way of really gaining people's trust in such a statement, but then we've heard the tale of the hare and the tortoise...

As for the real giant in the current console market, Hirai dismissed the Nintendo Wii as not competition at all.

"We don't look at [the Wii] as being competitors. They're a different world and we operate in our world - that's kind of the way I look at things".

Despite a 40% increase on PS3 sales in 2008, Sony experienced a weaker-than-expected Christmas period last year, and are expected to post operating losses of $1.1 billion shortly.

Spinning bad news is a must in this industry, and it seems Sony are becoming pretty good at it.