Newsbrief: Sony's U.S. marketing campaign for the upcoming PlayStation Vita is set to be its largest and most expensive yet for a games console, according to media reports.
Talking to the New York Times, John Koller, Sony Computer Entertainment America's hardware marketing director, has revealed that the company is spending $50 million on marketing for the device.
Due for launch in the U.S. on February 22 (a special first edition bundle arrives a week earlier), the PS Vita will see "the largest platform launch in terms of marketing investment we’ve ever had," continued Koller.
Surely a better marketing campaign would be just to make the device cheaper? Or use the $50 million to make the first million Vitas cheaper and say that it's a one off offer.
I call bullshit. Sony spent $2 billion in the mid 90's marketing the PSX. I hate the way they lie right to your face, just like that scumbag Jack Tretton.
The only number I found after doing a quick research was $40 million marketing costs for the US launch of the PSX. But this number comes from an ign article and is not backed up in any way, instead it is called a rumour.
$2 billion sounds a little bit high, mind telling us, where this number comes from?
$2,000,000,000 is a believable number for money spent on marketing over the entire lifetime of the PSX. Not for launch, and not for a single campaign. It's not "a little bit high". For that amount of money they could've launched by giving a free PSX to every family with a child in the United States.
$2 billion sounds a little bit high, mind telling us, where this number comes from?
The Ultimate History of Video Games, or Game Over.
The Ultimate History of Video Games, or Game Over. "
I just looked up both books, without finding that number.