Dave Reeves – best Playstation president and PS3 ambassador
This past week, news regarding the retirement of one of Sony’s most notable executives spread throughout the Internet. Dave Reeves has been one of the most vocal executives at Sony pushing the PS3 aggressively in Europe. Reeves delivered the PS3 in Europe successfully, managing to stay neck-in-neck with the competition.
I received a press release earlier this week from Sony indicating the retirement of Dave Reeves and the appointment of Andrew House to fill the responsibility. Reeves joined Sony back in 1995 and contributed to the sales of the PSOne, PS2, PSP and PS3. Reeves was the president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) overseeing nearly 106 counties.
In his farewell press release, Reeves stated:
I never got to visit all 106 countries but managed 66. I have just two things to say on leaving: I want to thank all of those people who have supported SCEE and me personally in the past 14 years; you have been magnificent! Secondly, I am going to spend my time now trying to repay society for all I have taken from it.
I feel that Dave Reeves is probably one of the best Sony execs to maintain the health of the Playstation brand across Europe. Under his care the PS3 was able to stay toe-to-toe with competitors such as Microsoft. Currently the sales of the PS3 are close to that of the Xbox 360 despite the fact the system came out nearly 16 months later.
Some would say that Europe has a strong brand loyalty towards Sony, but that can also be said for the U.S. However, at the end of the day, Reeves managed to deliver and that is what truly counts.
When many were speculating that Sony would drop the price of the PS3, Reeves responsibly tried to manage expectations by attempting to explain the business decisions. He also clued us in on exclusivity deals with third party developers such as EA in the past. He has also been a integral part in fostering the casual brand within the Playstation division with the EyeToy and Singstar.
Andrew House, the Chief Marketing Officer of the Sony mothership will be taking over as the President, CEO of SCEE. Andrew House may be able to contribute greatly to the SCEE with his extensive marketing experience from the Sony Corporation side of the house. However, one thing is for sure, we will all greatly miss Reeves and hope that he will find retirement relaxing and enjoyable.
Related Posts:
44 Responses to “Dave Reeves – best Playstation president and PS3 ambassador”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
April 20th, 2009
for sing star queen alone, i thank you good sir
April 20th, 2009
Those two links back to back to the same article were illustrative Mike… but one would have been sufficient. Anyway, it was interesting to see the gravitars showing Barnabe Jones as “Grey Fox” and Ncaissie was “Norm”… I didn’t know that.
Also looks like 360 came up from being 300k behind PS3 in Europe as you noted back then to 400k ahead now, a roughly 700k change in status in about 6 months. Not bad.
gamer.blorge.com/2008/09/22/ps3-and-xbox-360-neck-and-neck-in-europe/
vgchartz.com/hwlaunch.php?cons1=Wii®1=Europe&cons2=PS3®2=Europe&cons3=X360®3=Europe&weeks=200
April 20th, 2009
Ah, vgchartz…. the source so revered by Kev as being totally unreliable and yet found by another as a reliable source.
One day we may be able to band together under the one source and have reliable figures.
LET THE FLAMING BEGIN ……. OLAY
April 20th, 2009
Sorry, I didn’t say it was “reliable”, Spidey, I was just using the same source as the author did originally. Indicative, yes, that is a better word. Or in the words of the author, “By no means do we feel VGChartz give a 100% accurate unit count, however they have been very close in giving you a general picture.”
April 20th, 2009
“Currently the sales of the PS3 are close to that of the Xbox 360″
Well there’s a lie for a start.
The story (sourced from Sony….credible source, not) you cite to support thsi lie is dated Sept 2008.
Great cherry pick on the date
(being right before the big Sept Xbox price cut and the subsequent big X-mas sales for Xbox).
Here’s the truth –
“Eight million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold in Europe, the Middle East and Africa up to the end of 2008, widening its lead over PlayStation 3 in the region to more than one million and setting the scene for further growth in 2009″.
GFK ChartTrack data shows that Xbox 360 was the fastest-growing console of 2008, with sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 over double that of the same period in 2007, spurred on by a mix of value, great games and entertainment, and the recently-launched New Xbox Experience.
(and BTW GFK ChartTrack are not Miocrosoft = much more credible)
April 20th, 2009
I think David Reeves is a cool guy, eh sells Sony and doesn’t afraid of anything
April 20th, 2009
I could never tell whether Reeves was extremely clever or extremely stupid…although he does have a degree in astrophysics…maybe he’s off to help Turn 10 and Forza with their physics
April 20th, 2009
first kuturagi, then harrison, now reeves. i’m reminded of rats jumping from a sinking ship.
April 20th, 2009
I don’t think VGChartz is very reliable as they do guesstimates to bridge the gap between what they were able to collect and whats missing. From what I understand the numbers from Europe are even less reliable as the numbers have to be gathered from all sorts of crazy retail chains (including mom and pop shops) in over 100 countries.
In my original article I just referenced them stating that even VGChartz reflect what Reeves stated.
Anyway, I think you guys are missing the point.
I applaud the man for being able to catch up to the Xbox 360 16 months late in the game. Regardless of what fence you sit on that is commendable nevertheless.
He has done what the SCEA was not able to do and that is saying a lot. Or is it?
April 20th, 2009
There is something to really consider when it comes to the sales of all three consoles. Sony has the most expensive console of the three, that alone is a good reason for it to be coming in last. Also the PS3 is the only console out of the 3 that has not been hacked yet. The Wii is so cheap and easy to mod it’s not funny. You can still go online with copied games with the Wii. Combined with the fact that the Wii is so cheap, is it any wonder it’s selling so well? Almost everyone I know that has a Wii has it modded and does not pay for retail games. Does that make the Wii the best console with the best games? Hardly in my opinion.
Basically the point I’m getting at is there are other reasons for how well a console sells other than because it’s the “Best”. Why people argue and insult each other over the damn sales of a company that’s not even theirs makes me laugh.
April 20th, 2009
“Why people argue and insult each other over the damn sales of a company that’s not even theirs makes me laugh.”
I totally agree with that.
If only people understood that, then fanboy battles would’ve gone from comparing sales figures to what really mattered, i.e, which console has the best games because ultimately, that should be the best console from the consumer’s point of view and that would put wii in last place for sure.
April 20th, 2009
@hamburger
That is hard because good games are a matter of personal opinion.
@CarlB Norm is my first name Caissie is my last. Hence ncaissie
April 20th, 2009
Carl/NCaissie – Wait is that from the gravitar site? I’m not sure what you guys are talking about.
Grey Fox is my real name…. no not really. It’s from Metal Gear. He was the cybernetic ninja from the PS1 game. I think he was also in the original NES game at some point.
April 20th, 2009
“I applaud the man for being able to catch up to the Xbox 360 16 months late in the game. Regardless of what fence you sit on that is commendable nevertheless.”
Mike has won the ‘2009 Golden Kneepad Award’!
April 20th, 2009
Knighthawk
“the point I’m getting at is there are other reasons for how well a console sells other than because it’s the “Best”.
Why people argue and insult each other over the damn sales of a company that’s not even theirs makes me laugh.”
I agree with your first comment – afterall were it not for a substantial chunk of PS3s being bought by a/v fans interested in it as the then cheapest route into a full spec Blu-ray player then PS3 sales would have been even lower than they were.
You second point misses the point I think.
The reason why some of us love to shoot down the Sony/PS3 party line is because they are invariably manipulative liars lying to us.
Some of us don’t care for that sort of BS and they are spectacularly bad at it having been caught out so many times.
People who like to cheer on that sort of treatment and who seem to support being lied to and manipulated not only deserve everything they get but also the complete derision of the other posters on the board.
April 21st, 2009
Because being sold a defective piece of shit is TOTALLY awesome business practice! They respect you, thats why they wrapped it after they rape your ass.
Oh puhlease, if you can honestly ignore the horrendous hardware record of the 360, you have zero credibility for your opinion of how consumers should be treated.
April 21st, 2009
“In my original article I just referenced them stating that even VGChartz reflect what Reeves stated. Anyway, I think you guys are missing the point. I applaud the man for being able to catch up to the Xbox 360 16 months late in the game.”
For whatever reason the last six months seem to have taken a drastic change for the worse (for Sony in Europe and elsewhere)… and are reflected in the last NPD numbers (i.e. year on year increase in sales for 360, drop for PS3).
April 21st, 2009
@Happy
“snip… cheapest route into a full spec Blu-ray player then PS3 sales would have been even lower than they were.”
Well according to every 360 fanboy here (not sure if you yourself has said this) but blu ray is terrible failure! I’m sure Kev has told us all that it doesn’t sell, its pathetic, its a flop…. But yet, enough blu ray enthusiasts purchased PS3’s as to significantly bump its numbers!.. Right-o…
“The reason why some of us love to shoot down the Sony/PS3 party line is because they are invariably manipulative liars lying to us.”
Can you further expand on what you’re talking about. Are we talking PS2 DRE issues here?
Like Jofa said, the whole RRoD & e74 debacle is hardly shining customer service. BUT, If I was MS I would have done exactly the same thing, push the product out there and get people hooked, then start replacing/repairing.
Funny thing is tho, my PS2 actually had a drive that wouldn’t read DVD’s out of the box (cd’s were ok), but my 360 hasn’t RRoD/E74′d yet… Go figure…
April 21st, 2009
“The reason why some of us love to shoot down the Sony/PS3 party line is because they are invariably manipulative liars lying to us.”
And MS doesn’t ?????
April 21st, 2009
SW
Whether or not you see Blu-ray as a failure (and if by success they/you meant selling into a mass-amrket well enough to take over from DVD then I think it is a failure) that still doesn’t alter the fact that a lot of PS3s were sold to those a/v fans looking for the then cheapest way into Blu-ray at the best spec.
SW & Spideydog
I’ve yet to see Microsoft expoosed for setting up fake sites and trying to pull the usual viral sh*t Sony have been caught out at.
They are indeed lying liars tryiong to manipulate perceptions.
That is entriely different to honest advertsing and setting up websites that clearly state their purpose and who funds them (which is how MS has always done it).
April 21st, 2009
“first kuturagi, then harrison, now reeves. i’m reminded of rats jumping from a sinking ship”
*rolls eyes* Kev the man is retiring. So did Kuturagi btw.
April 21st, 2009
Nobody knows for sure here, but still… “retirement” could have meant he was given the option to save face… it happens a lot, especially after poor performance in one’s area of authority. It also could have meant he wanted to leave before his area tanked completely, as Kev said (thanks for the laugh Kev), though I doubt this latter is the case.
I’ve heard of twenty year company “retirement” (he’s had only 14 years with the company), you know, when one officially “retires” with a pension and so forth, but I think in this case it just means “Withdrawal from your position or occupation”.
“Sony’s March management reshuffle, which involved the signal promotion of four “young stars” and a fairly undisguised demotion of old guard management, was the culmination of many months’ internal diplomacy and planning – months that have, in any case, been monstrously bad for any Japanese consumer electronics maker.”
“The duty of the newly installed team of managers, he says, will be to spread the word throughout Sony that the company’s future will be in the hands of younger executives. Old Sony, says Sir Howard, never made young people into serious players quickly enough”
business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article6115103.ece
Spidey et al., one lie Sony made I would actually like to be made a double lie. That being full backwards compatibility in all PS3’s. Tretton said when they took it out, “We’ve now gone down that road, and we’re not going back.” I hope it turns out sometime in the future that he was “lying”. Another one I hope is a lie? No price drop.
April 21st, 2009
“that still doesn’t alter the fact that a lot of PS3s were sold to those a/v fans looking for the then cheapest way into Blu-ray at the best spec.”
Ill call it a fact when you can prove that more than say, 250,000 people purchased the unit for only blu ray and never bought a single game. Ever.
“They are indeed lying liars tryiong to manipulate perceptions.”
So you’re claiming what? Sony pays reviewers or creates fake review sites or something? Proof & linkge please.., or is this messageboard hearsay?
April 21st, 2009
Peter Dille: “I think what we’ve got is a more diverse install base out of the chute. Part of that too is that some of the folks buying PS3s are probably Blu-ray aficionados. So they’re buying it — and this is probably a smaller percentage of them — but gaming is something that they’re discovering: “Oh, this machine also plays games!”
gamasutra.com/view/feature/4000/catching_up_with_playstation_.php
April 21st, 2009
SW:
“Ill call it a fact when you can prove that more than say, 250,000 people purchased the unit for only blu ray and never bought a single game. Ever.”
No. Now your just twisting & wriggling.
Go look on any serious a/v forum, they’re full of people who got into Blu-ray for the very reasons I mentioned.
“So you’re claiming what? Sony pays reviewers or creates fake review sites or something? Proof & linkge please.., or is this messageboard hearsay?”
Go get someone else to waste their time running around proving stuff (which you’d then just ignore and more on to the next target anyways).
Yes they have indeed been caught out setting up fake sites and their attempt to use ‘viral marketing’ is well know.
Come on SW, I expect that sort of silly run-around for the usual suspects here but you’re a bit better than that sort of silly twiddling about, surely?
April 21st, 2009
“No. Now your just twisting & wriggling.”
No, not really. I’m just trying to make you see how crazy some of the stuff posted here is…
So someone goes out and buys a PS3 based on one of its FEATURES?!?!? Well blow me right out of town…
But seriously, please do prove to me that a number of PS3 users out there purchased this thing solely for A/V uses and never purchased one single game for the machine. Never spent a second ‘playing’ it.
I’m sure there are a few, heck maybe 1000. In a pool of 20 million(? – I don’t watch the sales of these consoles), is drop in the ocean and so you have to wonder why is was ever bought up in the first place?!?!
So sure I guess you can say “Afterall were it not for a substantial chunk of PS3s being bought by a/v fans SNIP…”
Because that would be true if even one person purchased the machine and never ever played a game on it. But its so insignificant (I mean unless you can bring us some high high numbers here, like 250k+) again I have to ask:
why the fuck was it ever bought up? (I could say the same things to knighthawk with the whole ‘the console hasn’t been hacked yet’ thing… Seriously my man, prove that one to me!)
Oh and ok, they’ve been caught setting up ‘fake sites’, the content of which you still haven’t told us about(or proven this either), and they use ‘ooga booga’ Viral Marketing, which of course, every man and his dog does these days for everything from movies to matchsticks.
“Go get someone else to waste their time running around proving stuff (which you’d then just ignore and more on to the next target anyways).”
Yes that’s it, I spend my time asking you to prove something just so I can go ignore it.
“Come on SW, I expect that sort of silly run-around for the usual suspects here but you’re a bit better than that sort of silly twiddling about, surely?”
This is truly insane. Seriously, are you a mental patient? Arvis, you talk bile, SW you ignore the truth. Jesus christ, do we really have you backed that much into a corner that you have to swing at anyone that doesn’t agree with everything you say?
Fuck me…
Oh, I should add, why would be ‘twisting and wriggling’? Sounds like a dance btw…
I don’t care what console YOU love, I happen to love them ALL.
@Carlb.
I can see what you’re getting at with the article. I don’t expect to EVER get figures on it (because its impossible) and I do agree that *some* people may have purchased it for the blu ray alone. But it would be a drop in the ocean in terms of total sales, and its really not worth mentioning.
I could ask you if it matters how many 360 users purchased it because they thought it has better media streaming stuff (Which it does)… Doesn’t really matter does it, and I don’t ever expect you to be able to produce those figures either.
April 21st, 2009
Peter Dille: “But we’ll also be broadening the market to… A/V aficionados that we can get involved in gaming for the first time.”
gamasutra.com/view/feature/4000/catching_up_with_playstation_.php?page=2
April 21st, 2009
I agree SW, it probably is a small percentage. 250,000? Isn’t that like 1%? I think there is a good possibility 1 out of 100 or more bought it for the blu-ray player alone when it was the most affordable blu-ray player. That’s the thing about PS3 though, and I’m not complaining, it has more non-gaming features that the user must pay for out of the box. Great for an “entertainment hub” philosophy, but not necessarily “future proof” or essential for gaming, the main purpose of the machine.
April 21st, 2009
SW said : “I do agree that *some* people may have purchased it for the blu ray alone.”
My beef is with this being bought up as if in some way to belittle current PS3 sales figures because ‘people purchased it for blu ray’.
Especially when on most other threads here, certain xdf will harp on about the big failure that is blu ray. I mean, if it sucks so much, can’t really have boosted sales very much now could it…
Like I say, I’m sure it boosted the sales by a few units, altho we’ll never really get the numbers.
On top of that, the same people will harp on about how sony reps spout bullshit all day long and will say anything to make the ps3 or any sony line look better. Last time I checked, Mr Dille was employed by Sony and I’m sure not trying to big up his unit’s media capabilities & target audience.
Go figure.
April 21st, 2009
@Carlb, well at least its a step down from the original specs with the dual gigabit ethernet lol…
But ya, I think its a smidge expensive and I can’t say I’ve used the blu ray movie functionality (of course I’m forced to use the drive itself due to the games).
They should’ve focused more on making the damn thing an awesome competator to Media Ctr.
360 media extender = coolio.
April 21st, 2009
You like the media extender? I tried it early last year and had a bad run… has it improved since?
April 21st, 2009
Barnabee, wasn’t Ken pushed because he went nuts?
April 21st, 2009
@Carlb.
I havn’t used it in a while because the codec support is kinda frustrating (this is an issue for both the ps3 and 360), so these days I just run component cables from my PC to my TV.
It ran fine for me tho back in the day…
April 22nd, 2009
Well my PLAYSTATION 3 about everything unlike my Xbox 360 it cannot read shit.
The PlayStation 3 is capable of photo, audio, and video playback in a variety of formats. It also includes various photo slideshow options and several music visualizations. The following table lists the photo, audio, and video formats that are supported on the PS3.
Image formats
* JPEG
* GIF
* TIFF
* BMP
* PNG
Audio formats
* MP3
* MP3 Surround
* WAV
* WMA
* ATRAC
* Audio CD
* SACD[d] (discontinued)
* MP4 Audio
* MPEG-4 Part 3
* AAC / AAC Low Complexity (unprotected)
Video formats
* MPEG-1 (MPEG Audio Layer 2)
* MPEG-2 PS[e] (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2, AAC LC, AC3(Dolby Digital), LPCM)
* MPEG-2 TS[e] (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2)
* VC-1[c] (.wmv)
* AVCHD (.m2ts / .mts)
* AVI[49]
* DivX,[e][f] DivX VOD
* XviD[e][f]
* Motion JPEG (Linear PCM)
* Motion JPEG (μ-Law)
* MP4 Video
* MP4 via DivX AVI
* MP4 SP[g]
* MP4 AVC / MP4 H.264
* DVD Video (region locked)
* BD Video format on Blu-ray disc (region locked)
* BD Video format on DVD-ROM
April 22nd, 2009
Netflix watch instantly queue is now up to 433, this thing is awesome. I love it.
April 22nd, 2009
CarlB:
For Neflix you need a good cable high speed connection and Xbox Live Gold subscription plus another subscription to Neflix.
April 23rd, 2009
Ivan_PSP:
Check. Check. And Check. I had all three of these before Netflix came to XBox 360. Don’t worry though, you can still get Netflix on PS3 or 360 another way, although the quality is not as good. Try using PlayOn, it has a free 14 day trial and only $40.00 (one time purchase) if you decide to keep it. It also includes CBS, CNN, YouTube (yes already on PS3), Hulu and others for free.
April 23rd, 2009
CarlB:
I hate movies these day they kind suck. Have you try Mininova. Is my favorite legal site lol. I don’t like Netflix.
April 23rd, 2009
Wolverine Origins looks like it will be kickass… don’t know. I don’t mess with the illegal stuff…
April 23rd, 2009
CarlB:
Is not like anyone gets caught. Billions of people do it every second is just a new way to get things you want faster and free.
Oh and get a PLAYSTATION 3 so we can play real games like Resistance 1 2 Killzone 2 Warhawk and many more.
April 23rd, 2009
Ivan, I hear you, but somebody always winds up paying the price… I prefer to pay my fair share when the cards are down. Plus the fact that I am a Marine, it is just the way we do things.
I still have to catch up on all the great games on the 360. DLC BROKEN STEEL will be sucking up mad time for me when it comes out next month, let alone the fact that I still have to play Fable 2, Lost and the Damned, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, and many others for the 360. Check me when Sony finally gets that $150 price drop, PS2 BC, and God of War III out though, I might be a little more open then, no doubt.
April 23rd, 2009
I watched the unfinished Wolverine at a friends place last weekend. I am TOTALLY going to pay to see it in theatres. A definite return to comic book roots, and now I want to see how much more it will rock with the special effects in place.
I also agree with you CarlB that someone always pays the price, that there really is no victimless crime in piracy. BUT, it wouldn’t surprise me if this version of the movie was leaked on purpose. It is incomplete and low quality enough to be a kickass advertisement. Not to mention, the 500,000 downloads of it within 48 hours of hitting the net got the movie a shitload of free press. I had friends who didn’t even know the movie was coming out until they heard about the leak.
Perhaps just the exception that proves the rule, but it may work in the movie’s favor this time.
April 23rd, 2009
I thought it was average if not suckage. Its gonna make $$$ just because its wolverine tho.
I don’t feel guilty about watching that unfinished release. I go to the movies with my lady and am still ‘paying’ for making her go to to see transformers… (TF2 with IMax scenes FTW RAWR!)
Wolverine, never gonna happen (in fact, I myself wouldn’t have wanted to go and see it)…
April 23rd, 2009
“it wouldn’t surprise me if this version of the movie was leaked on purpose” as an advert – Agreed.