During Sony’s big presentation at this year’s E3, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton made more than one joke regarding the company’s numerous leaks before the show – but he wasn’t exactly laughing when he made them. That’s because what could have  been a big year for Sony, full of some pretty impressive announcements was undermined by early trailers for games, video of the new PSPGo, and countless rumors hitting the internet well before the show began.

He may have put on a brave face at the time, but in an recent interview with cnbc.com, Tretton was all out of jokes, the self-deprecating humor replaced instead by a little bit of frustration, concern and a large dose of PR optimism for the future. We won’t ruin the interview for you (you should read it yourself), but here are some of the highlights:

Regarding the leaks, Tretton noted, “People don’t respect confidentiality in this industry… It’s tough enough to keep a secret within your own company, much less when you speak to third parties.”

Tretton also sees it being a problem for future hardware as well, stating, “This is an industry that has trouble focusing on today. We want to constantly talk about tomorrow.… You have to prepare for people to know things in advance.”

But despite these setbacks Tretton remains sure that Sony’s future is looking brighter every day, believing the iPhone will actually help turn people on to the PSP (“At the end of the day, the iPhone is a phone”), and that Sony’s new motion controllers will outperform both Microsoft’s Natal, and even the Wii remote.

And as for the never-ending rumors of a PS3 price cut? Tretton had some strong words, reminding everyone that Sony is after all, a business: “I can’t remember a day that people who have no stake in the profitability of our company have not called for a price cut… I think everybody but us would love to see it given away for free.” Fair enough.

Tretton’s optimism for Sony’s future is supported by the most recent NPD sales figures for May, which show the sales of the PS3 increasing to 131,000 units sold for the month, while the sales of the Xbox 360 held steady at 175,000, and sales of the Nintendo Wii dropped to 289,500. Both UFC 2009 Undisputed (334,400 copies) and Infamous (175,900 copies) were strong sellers for the PS3 as well.

Are these new figures evidence of a shift in console sales? Will the PS3 begin outselling the Nintendo Wii? Will dogs start making out with cats?! Probably not, to all of those questions. Now quit worrying about sales numbers and go play some games…

gameinformeronline

cnbc.com