David Jaffe: '10 Years from Now, One Console'

On a recent visit to SCEA San Diego to see David Jaffe's Calling All Cars for The 1UP Show, after talking about calling all cars, the outspoken developer talked about the game industry, Sony's first party and concerns he has with all three of the platform holders strategies

[Juevani]

''Dreamcasted the 360'' amen brotha

[PS3 Ultimate]

And that 1 will BE, The PLAYSTATION 3! 1 future. 1 world, 1 console. #1 The PLAYSTATION 3!

[THAMMER1]

^^^He worships SONY.

On topic:
Article rules. You should watch the video. Sweet

[Shadow Flare]

I'm not gonna butter up this comment with my thoughts, just watch the video. It's great

[nice_cuppa]

what ever makes the sony fanboys happy.

[The great Me]

...did the 360, "Xbox" the PS3? Wrap your head around the similarities there and then decide which is really more likely.

[THAMMER1]

Because I think your 100% correct. The 360 has Xboxed the PS3. Becuase the PS3 is not going to fade away but it will be available to those who have a taste for it. JUST LIKE THE X1.

[MicroGamer]

Even if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all get out of the console business within the next 10 years, someone else will be there to replace them and there will still be competition and fanboys.

It was an interesting point made about RFOM being a launch title. If Sony had to subsidize RFOM to get them to make it, then that is another loss that they are taking to get PS3 out there. I just think Sony is dumping too much money into the PS3 and they could end up losing a large chunk of what they earned from PS1 and PS2 just to keep it going. And there is no comparison between the Dreamcast and 360 like Jaffe implies. Sony was able to stop Dreamcast from selling with their lies and false promises. Nobody fell for the propaganda this time around and 360 sold anyway.

[mellowspaz]

The PS3 is like the N64 from the PSX era. Sony's stubborn format adoption, lost of big exclusives, dominance of 2 generations, arrogance, loyal fanbase, and higher cost of development is very similar to what Nintendo faced during N64's release. The reason Sega failed with the dreamcast is because people had a bad stigma after Sega had their add-on debacle with the Genesis.

[FeralPhoenix]

Good interview. At first he was really uptight and he got a little pissed about one of the early questions, which I thought was a legitimate question. It was good to see a Sony dev. that had alot of great things to say about the 360....actually he admits he owns a 360, and that XBL is awesome. He also mention a few 360 games he's looking forward to. When asked what he thinks is negative about the 360 he said that its more of a "hardcore" gamers console....in other words not as diverse. I will respect his opinion but I disagree (sort of) because I think Xbox 1 had that reputation and although it wasn't totally true it was pretty much a hardcore gamers console and I think that "reputation" carries over to the 360, but if you look at the game library now and the future titles coming I think theres plenty for everyone....that said, the "hardcore" label isn't a bad thing really, I mean I consider myself somewhat a "hardcore gamer" and that simply means that I'm a "experienced gamer" who likes to play more advanced/skilled level games...-NO, it doesn't mean I hate everything else....hardcore gamers play all types of games, we just prefer challenging games and once in awhile play a lil Mario esque type stuff or that JRPG(*$@#) -if you like.
-BTW, God of War is a awesome game....and GOW3 is definitely one game I want to play whenever it comes to PS3????

[BIadestarX]

Oh wow, this guy is on fire trying save the PS3 from their destined destruction. While I admired his loyalty and fanboyism, I would have to say from time to time people should take under considerations the fact that you can succeed based on dreams and only on the assumption that Sony will be able to deliver more than what Microsoft is and will be delivering just because there is a remote hope or possibility that they can. Sony did not destroyed the DreamCast Sega did it themselves just like Microsoft it's not destroying the PS3 Sony is doing it to themselves.
The difference between Microsoft and Sega is that even if the 360 fails microsoft is going to be on Sony's balls for years to come until the PlayStation brand is so unprofitable due to the lost of market shares that force them out of it. Why do I think this? Because microsoft already have what they wanted. Pretty much what every other company wants: To be profitable. The XBox division is already writing on black ink, and enable microsoft to open lots of doors for the overall company to make lots of cash. IPTV, Video MarketPlace, LiveAnywhere, etc. Suggesting that the 360 will endup like the dreamcast it's not only stupid but irrational. Microsoft would not let the XBox brand die when they are so close to dominate. They would be more willing to give the xbox 360 at a lost for $99 in order to keep all the doors open before letting it die without reason. So, I got bad news for you Sony fanboys (including David Jaffe) just because you dug your head in the ground and squeeze your butt-cheeks will not make the Xbox or Microsoft go away. You might as well craw under a rock and die.

[GaMr-]

this is going to be a good one. waiting for the "X.B.F.R" to get up in here...

[DJ]

"The XBox division is already writing on black ink". They're technically still 4 billion in debt. I think they almost hit 5 billion total, but started to bounce back. Good thing the console and its accessories like the Hard Drive are being sold at massive profits. They should be in the black within two years.

"Sony did not destroyed the DreamCast Sega did it themselves" I don't even know why Bladestar is suggesting that Sega voluntarily quit. They had a great selection of titles, heavy marketing, easier development, and a 12 month launch advantage, but still couldn't fight both Sony's hype and ability to deliver the goods.

I think Bladestar simply got confused and angered by Jaffe's comments about parallels between the 360 and the Dreamcast. The parallels are obvious, and have been pointed out by the media time and time again. All he's really saying, as other people have in the past, is that launching first has never guaranteed success in the console market. The outcomes however are completely unforseeable.

I don't think Microsoft is going to quit unless they somehow stall at say 25~30 million units. And even then, they'll probably go one last round.

[frostbite06]

Is the xbox division really 4 billion in debt?? Even if every console was sold for a loss and they paid people a sh*t load of money (which they do), i still dont know how you rack up 4-5 billion.

[BIadestarX]

ohh wow DJ is suggesting microsoft is going to wrong out of money to support the xbox division. So, you think to microsoft it's all about selling consoles? Do you think microsoft vision is to grab video game market shares? You don't get it do you. What are you blind?
Answer this questions for me since you know so much about microsoft goals.

Why do you think microsoft is pushing IPTV and why are they making deals with so many service providers like AT&T? What happends if this works considering the fact that Sony does not even have plans and they are virtually without any competition.

What about the video marketplace? Why is holiwood so interested and why is microsoft trying to push this?

At this rate even if Sony dominates 2 x the game market it does not have as many ways to make money.

"I think they almost hit 5 billion total, but started to bounce back. Good thing the console and its accessories like the Hard Drive are being sold at massive profits. They should be in the black within two years." So, microsoft is only making money on Hard Drives? I though you was smarter, did you know that microsoft profits from XBox live Gold Accounts, Royalties from games like Gears of war which sold 3,000,000 copies in 1-3 months, XBox live video marketplace, console sells, other accessories, soon they will profit from liveanywhere, sponsorship from companies to advertise over xbox live.

"The parallels are obvious, and have been pointed out by the media time and time again. All he's really saying, as other people have in the past, is that launching first has never guaranteed success in the console market."
Can you elaborate on these "parallels"? What are they? That they are sony's competition?
Sega quit for the same reason that Atari, coleco vision, and others quit the console manufacturing business: it was not profitable they were selling the dreamcast at a lost(This is NOT the case with the 360) Sega though they would be in some serious finantial trouble if they didn't drop production on the dreamcast so they decided to become a 3rd producer instead. Let's also not forget that PlayStation One was still producing lots of great games and had all the great exclusives. Also, the PS2 came with a DVD player which was already a stablished format and the dreamcast with some propietary format but was able to play CD-R which pannicked 3rd developers since people can just rent the game burn and play even without a mod chip.

" I don't think Microsoft is going to quit unless they somehow stall at say 25~30 million units" what kind of stupid logic is this? Why would any company close down something that's making profits. Microsoft was not able to turn profits with the original xbox after selling 25,000,000 of them, and now that they are able to turn profit within the first year and before selling 10,000,000 consoles they are going to quit!?

DJ, they can "Stall" at 12M consoles and if those 12M consoles continue to generate profits they will continue to support it.

As much as some of you would like the 360 to fail because of the fear that microsoft would monopolize the industry it does not mean it will happen. Some of these people need microsoft to fail specially David Jaffe's.

Let's talk a little about David,

David Jaffe is a video game designer and director and currently resides in San Diego, California. He is married and has two children.

Jaffe attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He applied to their prestigious film school, but was never admitted. After a few years pursuing his dream of directing movies, he turned to game design.

He is best known for directing the critically-acclaimed God of War for the Playstation 2. He is currently working on Calling All Cars for the Playstation 3.

Jaffe maintains a blog that provides commentary on game design and his own life. He is also known to be an honest interviewer and occasionally visits and posts at the videogame forum NeoGAF.

Works:

Calling All Cars (2007)
God of War II (2007)
God of War (2005)
Kinetica (2001)
Twisted Metal Black (2001)
Twisted Metal 2 (1996)
Twisted Metal (1995)

hardly the person one can trust will have a non-bias opinion about the 360.

Why don't you try asking any 1st party developer like bungie if they believe the 360 will die like the dreamcast.

Gee... I wonder if he would lose his job if he goes on record saying that the PS3 sucks and will suffer the dreamcast fate.

If he would say that he would be telling people not to buy the very games he is working on for the PS3.

[MicroGamer]

Sony projected losses of 1.8 billion for their games division in the first year of PS3s life cycle alone. If it takes 3 years before Sony can cut their costs on PS3, you have over 5 billion in losses already. That is why Microsoft lost so much. PS2 was able to control pricing and MS had to drop their prices to stay equal to PS2 before they were ready.

[DJ]

but Bladestar latched onto the idea of the Hard Drive instead. Come on dude, there's a lot more accessories than just the HDD. Again, he acts highly intimidated at the idea that the 360 will disappear like the Dreamcast. I specifically stated that I don't think this will happen, but he accuses me of stating otherwise.

DVD was on the market for two years, but had flatline sales figures until the exact moment that PS2 arrived on the market. If the DVD was already doing great, as Bladestar claims, then one has to ask why almost every videogame journalist critisized Sony for adopting a DVD drive for the PS2. The truth is that DVD was considered an unproven format, just as Blu-ray is considered unproven.

But that's just one parallel. There's a lot, and really all I'm saying is that it's important to look at them in order to understand what's happening.

Sony actually expects to break even with the PS3 by the end of 2007. The reason Microsoft lost so much on their first venture is because every single component of the Xbox was outsourced. 27 different companies built parts for the console, and even an outside contractor, Flextronics, put it together for them. Intel and nVidia retained control over their chips and charged pretty high prices throughout the console's lifetime. The price of the Hard Drive is the main reason that they suffered such big losses. Not only did Sony not have to worry about one, the production cost for the Xbox HDD remained fairly stagnant.

Add in the factor that Xbox didn't sell too many games and you can see what happened. Yeah, Halo and Halo 2 broke sales records, but Playstation 2 had a multitude of high-sellers. It also got a redesign so that it cost less than $100 to manufacture vs. the $230 that Xbox was still costing.

[KingJames1906]

I am sssoooo sick of these Sony Fan bots (That means you DJ!) contributing the PS2 to the success of the DVD format. You guys sound like Bill O'Reilly. All heart, no facts. That's the really amazing point considering that this. "In 2003, six years after introduction, there were over 250 million DVD playback devices worldwide, counting DVD players, DVD PCs, and DVD game consoles. This was more than half the numbers of VCRs, setting DVD up to become the new standard for video publishing." Buy the way were there even 50 million PS3's by 2003? I don't think so.

Did you ever use a VHS? It was evident that DVD would replace VHS. Like all things it came down to price. I remember my first DVD purchase of May 1999 (a full year before PS2) for $239.99 at Circuit City (with Divx movie playback) and once I viewed my first movie in DVD (Blade), I Loved the thing. But since you state "The truth is that DVD was considered an unproven format" Let's see, you had deleted scenes, director and actor commentary, scene selection and no matter how many times you played the movie, the image quality was the same. I NEVER used my VHS again. I wouldn't even use it for recording. By the way DVD was introduced in 1997 three years before the PS2. I think the thing your missing is that as time went by it became cheaper to manufacture DVD components. But that was not due to the introduction of the PS2, or the Xbox for that matter. Consider this "By the end of 2000, players were available for under $100 at discount retailers. In 2003 players became available for under $50. Six years after the initial launch, close to one thousand models of DVD players were available from over a hundred consumer electronics manufacturers."

By the way, how much was a PS2 in 2000 again? That’s right a full $200 dollars MORE than buying a standalone DVD player itself. Yeah DJ your right, PS2 LAUNCHED DVD. Don't get me wrong PS2 and Xbox played their part, but it was pretty oblivious that DVD was the format of the future once DVD player cost caught up to VHS player cost and the movies became cheaper mass produce onto DVD.

Please don’t turn this into a Blu Ray/ HD-DVD format discussion. It’s not! Those formats players were introduced within a year of the PS3/ Xbox360 console wars. Not three years later, $200 cheaper for stand alone Blu Ray/ HD-DVD players over consoles, not to mention there was only ONE DVD format to choose from. This has no bearing on the console wars of today.

@ DJ,

Before you make these wild accusations, try to a little research on something called the Internet.

http://www.dvddemystified.c...

[FeralPhoenix]

Damm, that was a great post.....DJ keeps trying to convince everyone that Sony is responsible for DVD's succeess and therefore Blu-ray is the next "format of choice". Actually he has made this claim, so many times and I remember telling him months ago that DVD was already the "format of choice" before the PS2 was introduced, thus Sony made a "obvious choice" of implementing it in the PS2.....not only do I remember this being the case from personal experience but if you do just a tad bit of research the facts will be evident, but it's like DJ's on some kind of crusade for Blu-ray to make people believe that "its the same as DVD". -NO, thats not true....Blu-ray and HD DVD for that matter are UN-PROVEN formats.....could Blu-ray win?...of course it "could" and so could HD DVD, or maybe neither....thats the whole point....this time around Sony took a "Big" risk, with the PS3, but last gen. choosing DVD was a "no brainer"/risk free given the fact that consumers were buying DVD players and movies in mass, sales were very good early on. There was very little doubt about its future and you didn't need to go out and get a new TV to fully enjoy its "high definition" resolutions. (HDTV's 720p, 1080p) -So as you can see, there are huge differences with these new formats....but of course DJ will keep denying it and repeating his slogan "Sony made DVD what it is today and their going to do the same thing with Blu-ray"....come on DJ, thats an old school selling tactic you are using for your Blu-ray campaign -compare your "questionable product" with a "proven successful product" and make them both seem like the same thing.

[wolfgang]

FeralPhoenix : Dj on a crusade for the Blue-Ray... Probably just another of those viral marketer that spam forums. Not sure if he is for Blue-Ray or Sony.

[Islandkiwi]

I like Jaffe because he's willing to throw out his opinion without clearing it through Sony first. What I found interesting was he noted the different levels of attention Sony gives to first party (100%) as opposed to third party (0%).

From what I've read MS is much more supportive of the third party development companies. If Sony wants to see more games out on the market, they should be as well.

I also found the talk about Resistance ( a game I didn't like) interesting with that concept of losing money on a game because it's a launch game. I've never heard that discussion raised before, but it's true...especially when games get pushed out the door to make launch (PDZ).

[Maldread]

He brings up some interesting points here, as allways.

[gnothe1]

whats strange this guy David Jaffe (DJ)worked on God of War!!(DJ's avatar is GOW)praises sony(just like DJ)lives in cali(DJ said he lives in cali,moved from Europe)an Bladestar posted that David Jaffe posts on a blog(so does DJ)could this be the same guy!! a sony loyalist that tries so hard to convince people that the Ps3 is so great that way he can continue to sell his games!!because no one defends sony more than DJ!!(David Jaffe)isnt that crazy!!

[Marriot VP]

haha, interesting conspiracy theory

Considering jaffe's new found job titles perhaps one of them is kissing sony's butt constantly(DJ)

[ApocalypseShadow]

this guy speaks from the hip.he's c*cky,but he does know what's going on.bladestar,you say why he should be a source of information or get asked questions about 360 or just gaming itself,but when a 360 dev speaks on ps3 or a pc dev,it must be true or we should only listen to them.your double standards again.as always.