House lays out some smack talk on the Wii

Sony seems to be finally pulling out of the slump they’ve been in since about two months after the PS3 launch. With the system now selling at a price point that people seem to be willing to pay, an amazingly strong holiday and Q1 line up and an ad campaign that actually makes sense they’ve seen PS3 sales “skyrocket” over the past few months. And remember this life lesson, boys and girls: when you’re doing well, no one else can.

Such seems to be the feeling of SCEE boss Andrew House, who subtly ripped into the Wii in a recent GI.biz interview. “I think at a time when we’re seeing one of the major competitors somewhat losing a sense of momentum – at least in many of the markets I’ve looked at – it’s gratifying to see a platform that’s always had a very significant share of sales go to third party publishers capture that momentum again,” he said.

“The knock-on effect can only be a positive one if publishers are making up 75 percent of the sales on a particular platform, as opposed to a much smaller share elsewhere, then that’s the platform I think it’s in their interests to see succeed – and I think that’s the dynamic we’re seeing return right now.”

Now, he didn’t say Wii specifically so they asked him to clear that up. “From data that we’re starting to see, in some of the publicly-released figures, we’re seeing a significant year-on-year downturn for the Wii. I think that’s just a factor of this Holiday season.”

OK, so it’s a really wishy washy insult with plenty of half commitments to cover his ass, but hopefully this little bit of smack talk isn’t a sign that the old, arrogant Sony who thinks they can do anything is coming back. That didn’t work out so well for them, and it’d be a shame to see them once again shoot themselves in the foot because they think they’re still top dog.