b. Imitating the Wiimote
To increase the value of the PS3, the Sony should imitate the Wiimote, which we call the “PSmote”. The PSmote should be made compatible with both the PS2 and the PS3. As we propose later in this article Sony should use both consoles to fill two different market niches. If successful, the PSmote will add great value to both consoles.In the low-end market, it will keep those PS2 owners who like the motion sensing controller from switching to the Wii. In the high-end market, it will help the PS3 attract some potential buyers of the Xbox 360.
In the long run, Microsoft is expected to develop the technology as well, but at least it will diminish the competitive advantage of the Wii.Sony should first try to imitate the Wiimote with slightly different technology on which Sony can obtain patents itself. This should not be too difficult since the Wiimote is presumably simple enough to reverse engineer yet complex enough that functional variants would be easy to produce. In addition, the technology embedded in the Wiimote is not effectively protected by patents as compared to a chemical formula or a simple mechanical design [10].
If the patent issue can’t be resolved, however, Sony can try to obtain a license from Nintendo. Generally Nintendo would not be willing to give away its most important advantage to its biggest rival, even though licensing the technology to Sony would significantly increase its revenue. Alternatively, Sony can get a license from the companies that have sued Nintendo for patent infringement of the Wiimote [11, 12].As a last resort, Sony can opt to violate the patents and face the legal ramifications later.Historically this has often amounted to little more than a fair licensing fee for the units sold as determined by the court.At the same time, games should be developed for both consoles that showcase the PSmote. Besides designing new games, Sony can ask developers to upgrade the current PS2 and PS3 games to include the PSmote functionality. It can also get the third-party publishers to port games that have been designed specifically for the Wii into the PS2 and PS3 format. Considering the huge installed base of the PS2 and the potential installed base of the PS3, third-party publishers would be more than happy to port the games to recoup the investment in developing the games. This is also supported by the fact that most third-party games can run on multiple platforms .
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