In a CNET.com Interview, Sony PlayStation’s President and CEO Jim Ryan discussed a variety of topics including the Last of Us Part II, and PlayStation’s pricing. As the company prepares for its PS5 games reveal this week Ryan seems confident on Sony’s ability to carry out a perfect launch for its next generation system.
“We remain absolutely on track. We’re going to launch this holiday, we will have a global launch. And where we’re greatly looking forward to it. And we very much want the gaming world to look forward to it, too.” – Jim Ryan PlayStation President/CEO
It is unclear how successful Sony’s – and Microsoft’s – Holyday launch of their next generation systems will be. Without a Vaccine it is likely that many countries will still have lockdowns and curfews set in place by Winter, and fears of a second wave of COVID-19 cases occurring during said time period abound amongst medical experts.
The U.S. and most world economies are in tatters and will likely remain at a low point during the Holiday season. It is hard to say how big the impact will be in terms of hardware sales but it is likely that both companies are projecting lower than pre-COVID-19 expected numbers.
One of the issues that have yet to be resolved by either company is the pricing of the machines which was expected to be in the $500 dollar range a few months ago, but due to the unforeseen economic hardships, perhaps both companies will make some concessions on that regard. While didn’t reveal a price point in the interview he did allude that Sony is – and will – take into consideration a variety of different factors before setting the PS5’s price point in stone,
“We’ll try to get the price right and value proposition right.”- Jim Ryan
Reading between the lines, it is tough to see Sony going anywhere over $500 hundred, and a $400 price point seems viable. Sony is certainly thinking about it.
June 4’s expected games reveal online event is the first of many such events that Sony is planning on scheduling before the PS5 release. As such one of the topics that Ryan was most excited about discussing was about Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us: Part II (newest Gameplay trailer below).
Sony’s hopes for the title are as high as those of most gamers that have been awaiting for the title to arrive on the PS4 for half a decade now. It is not clear whether there will be a ‘Remastered’ or enhanced edition of the title on the PS5. Sony has yet to announce anything resembling Microsoft’s Smart Delivery feature which will allow owners of a current title to immediately upgrade free of charge to the best version of their currently owned game on the Series X.
It is a question that should eventually surface for Sony, as games like the Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tushima have the potential for cross generation releases, it would be counterproductive for gamers to pay $59.99 over the summer for any of those titles and yet have to pay again later in the year for an enhanced version.
Backwards compatibility for The Last of Us Part II has been announced, yet again it is unclear whether it will receive a resolution, and framerate boost when played on the newer more powerful machine. As it stands the Last of Us Part II could be the last big truly big release on Sony’s PS4, “We hope this’ll be a defining game for this generation” Ryan finalized.