EA CEO: Xbox Brand Doesn’t Match PlayStation Brand

EA CEO John Riccitiello has said that the Xbox brand isn’t anywhere near the PlayStation brand when it comes to international markets.

“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,” the exec told IndustryGamers.

“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.”

However, PlayStation still has its headaches.

“The big disadvantage Sony carries is they have an expensive platform because of Blu-ray, so they have a harder time hitting price points,” he said. “Microsoft has taken advantage of that and their online service, which really is the gold standard… 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.”