Future, the special-interest media group, and Sony Computer Entertainment have announced the launch of FirstPlay – Europe's first HD interactive show for gamers, available exclusively through Sony's PlayStation 3. The weekly FirstPlay episodes will be available to UK gamers from March and will roll out across selected European and other PAL territories later in 2010. FirstPlay promises PS3 gamers HD reviews and previews of the latest games and exclusive access to downloadable content.
FirstPlay's bespoke content is being created by a hand-picked team of TV and gaming veterans with the reviews and previews coming from the team behind the respected Official PlayStation Magazine team.
PS3 registered users will be able to buy a three month subscription at £8.99 or purchase single episodes for 99p.
Featuring just six premium video advertising slots per episode, FirstPlay will enable advertisers to target an engaged audience of gamers with HD video advertising slots, directly through their PlayStation 3. FirstPlay delivers the impact of TV along with the transparency of the web with total user views and other key user data available as well as click throughs and deep web links to the PSN Store.
With over 3m PSN accounts in the UK, Sony sees the network as an increasingly important way of adding value for its growing audience of gamers. Recent statistics from the BBC suggest that the PS3 is now responsible for 8% of iPlayer traffic, while the Vidzone streaming music video player became the world's largest, delivering over 200m videos to users in its first six months. FirstPlay brings to PSN compelling, games-focussed editorialised content that will enable users to get more from the PS3's range of entertainment services.
The launch of FirstPlay marks the next phase in a long-standing and creative publishing partnership between SCEE and Future, which began in 1995 with one Official magazine and today operates on both sides of the Atlantic with a portfolio of print titles and digital content. Future introduced the first ever cover-mounted playable console disc on the Official PlayStation Magazine in 1995.
Ray Maguire, Senior Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK said:
"As PlayStation 3 moves the gaming experience to a more social and competitive online environment through the PlayStation Network, so it becomes critical that we're offering gamers the very best content and services through this channel. FirstPlay is a great example of this. Future has an outstanding track record in producing content for gamers that is informed, impartial, relevant and with the right production values, so we see them as a natural partner to work with as we move to on-console media development."
Robert Price, Chief Executive of Future UK added:
"FirstPlay is a ground breaking development, not just for gamers, but for the media industry, and we are delighted to be partnering with Sony on this pioneering project. On-console delivery is an exciting next step in Future's strategy of providing high quality content for readers and integrated media solutions for advertisers. We believe that we've created a product that will appeal to gamers in a uniquely effective and targeted way.
