Jack Tretton Is The Best Exec In Corporate History. Fact.

SCEA’s head Jack Tretton has written a buoying rally on the US Playstation Blog, declaring ‘09 a great year for Playstation, thanking fans especially for all their support. The post came hours after the NPD report, which saw solid figures for Playstation 3, but the XBOX 360 and Wii still some way in front.

Despite that, Tretton was quick to point out the positives: PS3 saw a 33% growth year on year this month, as well as pushing nearly 3 million sales for Naughty Dog’s excellent Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

“According to NPD’s recent Top Global Markets report, PlayStation was the only company to see consumers in three territories (UK, US and Japan) spending 15% more on PS3 software in 2009 than they did in 2008 – this is while the category as a whole experienced a 9% decline in software sales,” said Tretton.

“The PS3 was also the only console in the U.S. to see double-digit growth in sales this past quarter. December also marked the best sales month in the platform’s history, breaking one million hardware units and 7.3 million software units.

“We’re nowhere near slowing down in the new year as today’s NPD numbers show a 36% sales increase on PS3 hardware when compared to last January. This is truly remarkable given the tight inventory we’ve been experiencing as a result of high consumer demand since last Fall.

“Games like UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves are surpassing our lofty expectations as it outsold the franchise’s first PS3 game and is now closing in on three million copies sold worldwide. Over half a million of you have already chosen your allegiance in MAG, and have played over 270,000 games in the Shadow War.”

It’s obviously all corporate spin, but it’s worth remembering there are positives for Playstation right now, especially after a blazing year which saw Sony effectively relaunch the Playstation platform. Things can only get better.

Jack Tretton. Almost As Badass As David Jaffe.

Fox just put up an interview with SCEA’s big-wig Jack Tretton. He doesn’t really talk about anything we don’t really know, but touches on the Playstation Motion Controller and the growth of the PS3 since the price-cut.

If, like us, you can’t wait until E3 to catch another glimpse of Jack Tretton, then, you should probably watch this interview. Tretton rules.

Jack Tretton: Practically God In Our Eyes.

With successful sales reports out of the way, Sony’s Jack Tretton obviously felt bullish enough to write a rallying note to the users of the Playstation Blog, describing the coming holiday season as “one the most exciting times for Playstation”.

Tretton described the new $299.99 pricetag of the Playstation 3 as a “game changer”, and recognised the companies commitment to great retail and digital content.

“In NPD Group’s September 2009 video game sales data, released today, the PS3 ranked as the top console sold for the month, beating out all our competitors. It was also the only hardware platform to realize an increase of 112% when compared to the same period last year,” Tretton said.

Tretton was also keen to note that the newly launched PSPgo is driving Playstation Portable sales throughout the US, without highlighting concrete numbers.

Moving onto Sony’s first-party software, Tretton was keen to note the wealth of exclusive content heading to the Playstation 3 over the next 6 months. And on the small matter of Uncharted 2:

“The Naughty Dog team has delivered a truly visually stunning and immersive game that is clearly only possible on the PS3. It has garnered an average review score of 96 with more than 64 perfect scores. This game promises to be a system seller for PlayStation and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

Indeed, very exciting times for us Playstation fans. It’s also really awesome to see big corporate execs like Jack Tretton directly communicating with the Playstation fan base. The Playstation Blog is really delivering a sense of community.

Say What You Will About Kutaragi, Tretton Is The King Of Playstation In Our Eyes.

Newsflash: Jack Tretton in “Sony are best for the industry” shocker! In an interview with Forbes, Sony of America’s top-dog Jack Tretton described Sony’s position in the console war. When talking of Playstation’s closest competitors Tretton said:

“We see ourselves somewhere in the middle, we don’t have unlimited money [like Microsoft], we cater to a more mass market audience [like Nintendo], and we are willing to take more risks than Nintendo is… We like to say that the environment where PlayStation wins is best for the industry, because we have a brand that can play on a worldwide basis, young and old, male and female, where our competition tends to be relegated to select regions or to select consumer audiences.”

Interestingly, much as Tretton is paid to say these things, our own columnist “Twiggy” is not. And ironically he wrote a piece about this very subject over the weekend.

Jack Tretton Is Definitely The Best Company Exec In Video Games. Sorry Reggie!

Jack Tretton looks like a man who likes to get things done. And get things done his company have; with a fresh image, massively improved marketing, and the biggest holiday line-up in the console war this holiday, Playstation 3 is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance. Sales are up by enormous numbers globally and Jack Tretton is pretty damn pleased with himself.

“Skyrocketing sales, couldn’t be happier with the numbers that we’re seeing, and I think proof that there was tremendous consumer demand, they were just waiting for the price-point to come down.”

At this point, Sony can’t afford to ease off the pace. Completely remarketing the Playstation 3 has been a stroke of genius for all involved at the company — and with a lineup including a God Of War game and a Gran Turismo in 2010, Sony must be feeling pretty buoyant about the future. No doubt Jack Tretton will be hammering his employees — “More of the same, please.”

Jack Tretton Just Wants To Remind You That He's Not Interested In Price Cuts. Yet.

Remember the words “price-cut”? How could you forget. You read them everyday because we type them everyday. It’s everyone’s favourite topic. Never mind the games. Let’s talk price cuts!

Speaking with the Fast Company, Sony’s Jack Tretton wanted to address price cut discussion, namely the fact that the PS3 is designed with a 10 year life span in mind.

“People are having short-term thinking – the platform is not even three years old. It was $599; it’s now $399,” he said

“The focus on pricing is something we appreciate, but you have to have the conviction and the confidence that you are on the right path for the long term and ultimately you’ll get all the consumers you want. You won’t get them all day one, but we’re looking to get them over a 10-year period. It’s going to take different things to get different consumers.”

Tretton concluded that Sony could have simply pumped out a slightly beefed up PS2, a system that would have been cheaper but wouldn’t have served the lifespan that Sony are promising.

There Are 15 First-Party Playstation 3 Exclusives In Development According To Tretton.

Jack Tretton has confirmed that there are 15 first-party Playstation 3 exclusive titles in development. Ahem, 15. Speaking about the strength of the PS3’s lineup Tretton commended the exclusive third party titles such as Rockstar’s Agent and Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV alongside the 15 in-house titles being developed exclusively for PS3. These don’t even include second-party releases such as Sucker Punch’s inFamous and Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time. It kinda makes you wonder what else is in development – we assume he’s including Starhawk and David Jaffe’s project in his list — but what else do Sony have up their sleeve? We wouldn’t be surprised if a new Killzone was announced next year.