Sony's PlayStation 3 will follow Microsoft's Xbox 360 into the video market, but will blaze its own distinct path.
That's the early word from Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton, who does not expect the PS3 to adopt the monthly fee imposed by its rival console on the Xbox Live service. The latter continues to gain traction not just for online gaming but also as a platform for downloadable movies, TV episodes and other content.
Tretton said that a key differentiator for Sony would be that unlike Microsoft, SCEA can count on content to come from within the company.
"Everybody in the world has rightly pointed out that Sony is uniquely positioned with having a great heritage in hardware, and a great heritage in software -- they own a music business, they own a successful movie studio and a successful gaming division," he said. "So just based on our internal resources alone we should be able to take advantage of synergies. We're working closely together to come up with a service that we think will be of benefit to the consumer as well as not just the PlayStation brand but potentially across all Sony properties."
But the real question has always been the timing of this new strategy, and the only answers coming thus far from SCEA is not quite yet.
"Given that it's September, it's not something that we see happening in 2007," Tretton said. "But I would say the near future and clearly within this platform lifecycle."