With the Xbox One, Microsoft committed the cardinal sin of introducing unnecessary complications (such as the now-rescinded need to go online every day), whereas with the PS4, Sony kept it simple from the off. House contends that that approach extends beyond gamers to developers (who famously found it tricky to get to grips with the PS3's programming demands, as he tacitly acknowledges): "I see our approach on PS4 as really taking Sony Computer Entertainment back to our original roots."
"When we first launched with the PS1 and certainly the PS2, the goal was to give the consumer more choice, and lots of flexibility at a time when the delivery mechanism of games, on cartridges, placed a lot of restrictions on the industry. And also, by shifting to disks, to give developers – and particularly smaller ones – the chance to take risks and build a business. I think you're seeing exactly those kinds of principles applied to PS4."
"There's consumer flexibility. We have a camera which will build some great consumer experiences, especially when it's used in conjunction with the Dual-Shock 4, but we're not mandating that, or forcing that purchase on the consumer.
"Secondly, we have a new development environment, that developers are telling us is significantly easier to make great games for, and we've undertaken a significant amount of outreach to smaller developers. And the net result is that we're seeing a lot of developers coming out of the mobile space, and I think that's a tremendously positive trend for console gaming. Essentially, we have access to a whole new set of talent in gaming that we didn't have before."