PlayStation is a brand that has been synonymous with consoles, especially in India. Even before the next-gen consoles were officially launched in India, the PS2 was made available in India. However, now Sony Computer Entertainment is starting to build up a base here, GameGuru.in (GG) had a chat with Mr. Atindriya Bose (AB), the Country Manager of Sony Computer Entertainment, India. Here is the whole interview:
GG: Can you tell us something about yourself?
AB: My name is Atindriya Bose. I work for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which takes care of the PlayStation brand of products, hardware and software for the Indian market. I hold the position of the PlayStation Country Manager – India. SCEE is basically in-charge of PlayStation brand for Europe, Middle East, part of Africa, Oceania and India. In terms of the territory allocations, this is more on the footprint of the PAL territories as against the NTSC territories. So this is aligned to Europe.
GG: How are Sony’s consoles, PS2, PS3 and PSP faring in India?
AB: The exact numbers are a bit difficult to gauge for the Indian market because it is a mix of both, official as well as the unofficial channel product that comes in. What is important is how the base for these consoles is getting created. If I look at PlayStation 2, it is the oldest after PSOne. We already have perhaps a 300,000+ console base in India. Similarly, if I look at PlayStation Portable, we have a console base of around say 75,000 to 1,00,000, nothing less than a lakh. PS3 is a bit difficult to gauge because it is a recent launch. There is an (NO) official channel. Our estimate of the unofficial channel is a bit difficult to have. We will not put a number to that. But in terms of the growth perspective, in terms of our recent experience, the numbers are very much on the up curve. Like this year, we have seen nothing less than 5x to 10x growth across the different segments.
GG: What are the best selling games for your consoles?
AB: Each console has its own… and it is not restricted to Sony Computer Entertainment created games. You have the sports category; FIFA 08 of EA has been very successful on the PS3. We are doing something called as FIFA Interactive World Cup for India market. India is one of the few markets, where it is happening. It will happen in January.
In terms of the genre, it is pretty much the same, like you have the first person shooter, you have the racing games, and you have the adventure games, sports. Each of the genre has its own following and now what we are trying from Sony is to create a genre that goes beyond the gaming community. So to say, it allows people to jump in to the games much faster and allows you to play those games in a family environment with your friends and family. One of the first in line is the SingStar game that we have launched yesterday. SingStar is a huge music franchise internationally. To address the Indian market, we are now looking at the Bollywood franchise and this is the first in line, the SingStar Bollywood that has been launched.
GG: Why did Sony choose Milestone Interactive? How come Sony didn’t have a base until now?
AB: There are two things; there is a market entry strategy that every company follows. In terms of the distribution, the hardware distribution happens through Sony India, the software distribution happens through Milestone Interactive. In terms of Milestone’s understanding of the gaming segment, in terms of its understanding of its entertainment business and the distribution, we found it the perfect partner to have in India. Even as we go forward, in terms of the distribution, Sony Computer Entertainment as an organization, we don’t see ourselves getting into distribution. We will always have partners, well evaluated and very strong partners like Milestone Interactive and Sony India. And if you look at each of these, they are an organization by their own right, by their own merit. These are not the traditional distributors or small town redistributing points. They are an organization in their own right.
GG: We have reliable sources who quote that the 40GB PS3 would be launched in India…
AB: Obviously, once you say that the Indian market is important, you cannot but synchronize the launch of the best line-up you have. We are currently selling the 60GB PS3, the 40GB PS3 has been launched in many of the European markets, its just a logistics issue that we might have around one, one and a half months delay. By the time, we hit December you will have the 40GB PS3 in the market at a price point that matches the European market.
GG: But the 40GB PS3 is not backward compatible, wouldn’t it put off many gamers?
AB: One of the reasons is that when we launched the 60GB PS3, the important factor was that people should have adequate choice of games to play on. Now as the total number of games on the PS3 has increased and a person can have his own adequate album across the genre, we don’t feel that backward compatibility is so important. Anyone who has bought a PS3 is actually looking for an experience, which is PlayStation 3, a high-definition experience, complexity of the games. And once you have such a wide range in the PlayStation 3 games, it is adequate but we don’t have to depend on the backward compatibility but create an album by its own merit.
GG: India has predominantly been dominated by PC gaming. Was Sony apprehensive in rolling out game consoles in India? What kind of market research did you do?
AB: PC gaming is perhaps in a nascent stage in India, the whole gaming market as such is going through a stage of nascency and it has not matured. It shows a potential that is huge, a market potential that is huge but are we right up there, at the matured stage of the market? No. We are in a pretty early stage of the market that a lot of people are trying to experience gaming, computer games. But in terms of how the market is panning out, we have every reason to believe that it will pan out the same way as the international markets have panned out.
There will be a computer gaming segment, there will be a console gaming segment and also in India market, you will have the internet and the mobile gaming segment. The computer gaming segment will have a certain number but the value always will be less. Console gaming market, which is the plug and play, gives you a much better experience in terms of a gaming experience. Lots of people will shift towards that.
GG: You have cut the price of the PS3 in India. But gamers are still put off by the high price of the console…
AB: Every product has its own price point. It is the way, when you address a market in terms of the price point, whether you address the full price tree. So if you look at the PlayStation range, if you compare any of the competition, we have a complete range, we have an entry level gaming console at Rs. 6990, which is the PlayStation 2, you have a very high badge value portable PlayStation Portable, which is available for Rs. 9990. Now you have the PS3, which is for Rs. 29,990. Perhaps when the 40GB comes in, it will be at a price that is lower than this. So you have a whole tree for a customer to choose from.
Yes, whether we would like the prices to come down further, every customer would like to, from the company side, we would love to, but you would also have to take into account that there is an import duty content, you have to take care of. In India, the PlayStation or the gaming console range is not yet in a favorable zone of import duty content. It attracts almost 35% of the import duty, which is bit difficult to tackle. But in terms of us trying to reach price points which is closer to the unofficial channel, in line of what is happening in European market prices, we will always try to do that, we will take every step, we will cut every part of our business process, adding cost without adding value to bring you the prices, which we can do in the market.
The other part of the PlayStation or a gaming console thing is what is true in Indian market is the running cost of the products. One is the initial investment and another is the running cost. We have also looked at the running cost and therefore the softwares now start from Rs. 499 onwards. It is possible only because we have started replicating in India. So we have started with the PlayStation range, it is a wider base, but we are serious about the Indian market, therefore we are replicating now in India almost 50 – 60% of the titles, which will be available below a price point of Rs. 1000.
GG: Would you be coming out with PS3 Starter Packs in India?
AB: We may. Those are marketing actions and that’s a short term thing. At some point of time when we feel, that is a marketing tool that is always there at your mercy. It is like, which arrow do you fire, means, even if I say a starter pack, I might choose to do it only with Blu-Ray discs or I may choose to do only with games. These are the different tools that you have in hand. But it is definitely a good value, may or may not, nothing is specific. Nothing is planned as yet, but in terms of the combo packs, yes you will see more combo packs coming in. There are plans of bringing in PSP Spiderman combo.
Each of the advanced marketing steps that are being taken internationally will be taken in India. Because India is not a simple market, it is quite a complex market and before you start doing very high level of marketing, you have to see whether your business processes are in place to give products at the right price and whether the consumers can access those products from your channel. So I have to place those products in to the channel. Thus I have to do channel widening, which I am happy to say is happening pretty fast, the price points have been arrived at. I think it is high time that we go to more advanced marketing.
(To be continued…)