Sony concerned by gaming stereotypes
Public still has negative view, says exec
Speaking in the wake of the UK's Change4Life ads, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Ray Maguire has said that the business is still the victim of negative stereotypes.
The controversial ads urge kids to play less less "unhealthy" games and get outside and exercise more, and trade mag MCV initially considered legal action against the ads.
Maguire told the publication: "I must admit that when I first saw the Change4Life PlayStation ad I felt exactly the same way as everyone else. How could this happen? How could the Department of Health and the charities, the ad agency, all get this so wrong?"
"It was sloppy marketing to say the least and typical of what we have come to expect from certain quarters when it comes to our stereotype."
He said the ads were guilty of playing to people's paranoia, noting the views of the Daily Mail, and suggesting that those educated in gaming ways will most likely have dismissed the ads anyhow.
"The industry has changed more in the past five years than in the previous 15, but the general public's image of this industry has hardly changed at all," the exec concludes.
