Sony has an image problem with the Playstation 3 right now, that’s no secret. There are detractors everywhere, seemingly, so why the hell did Jack Tretton, SCEA’s President and CEO, say what he did? Here’s the direct quote in question from EGM’s interview with him for their cover story this month:

EGM: Well let’s talk about that for a second, because, from our unscientific studies, it seemed like about 50% of the people in line were there to make a quick buck on eBay. And now we’re seeing a lot more units on shelves.

Jack Tretton: Really?

EGM: Yeah.

Jack Tretton: If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that’d been on store shelves for more than five minutes, I’ll give you 1,200 bucks for it. I can get any retail buyer on the phone with you and get them to verify that there’s not a single retail location in America where there’s a PlayStation 3 on the shelf for sale. They’ve all been sold in a matter of minutes. [Editor’s note: This interview took place in early January 2007.]

Dumb, dumb, dumb. True, in early January PS3’s were still a little bit hard to come by, but nowhere near impossible (you can credit EGM for exaggerating a bit in their interview), and this interview was for a magazine, he should have known that it wouldn’t be in readers’ hands for another month. What should he have said? Here are two suggestions:

- Talked about how quickly they’re shipping units.
- Talked about how they got their early manufacturing problems sorted out.

You know what the amazing thing would have been if he had said either or both of those things? They would have been true. I’d hate to call a wealthy CEO of a multi-billion dollar company a dumbass, but Jack Tretton, you said a very dumbass thing and everyone’s taking you for a ride over it… and I think you deserve it.