They're worried, honestly. Though some may say PR people are a dime a dozen in any industry, Karraker had a lot of history at Sony and his recent departure from the team is going to make it a difficult holiday for Sony, says analyst Michael Pachter. Karraker always made himself available for questions and comments, putting himself forward especially after the shaky PS3 launch and subsequent waves of negative press. Can someone fresh really fill the shoes of that man?Michael Pachter isn't completely sure. "The other PR people at Sony are quite competent, but it would help to strengthen the team with someone as good as Dave to handle the schizophrenic press over the next 6 months." Just because we always refer to ourselves as "we" doesn't make us schizophrenic! Although we don't consider ourselves press, either. As to further boost Sony's fears, Pachter also claimed that the few PS3 exclusives and pricing disadvantage relative to other consoles will make this one difficult holiday for Sony. Things will shape up in Spring, he said, "with the release of Grand Theft Auto 4, Gran Turismo 5, and Metal Gear Solid 4." We bet so, too!
1. Personally I think Sony needs new blood on the PR front. Their corporate communication with the public didn't really exist until the official blog opened up. Anything prior to that was a one-way street.
They're still better than Nintendo and other traditional Japanese companies when it comes to dealing and communicating with its customers, but there's always room for improvement. Hopefully Sony will land a crew that can turn around the negative press for good.
Posted at 10:06AM on Sep 7th 2007 by Popfrogs