Good news: Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has a new promise for PlayStation 4 owners that should positively affect the longevity of their state-of-the-art consoles. The top executive said that Sony is committed to bringing great games to the PS4 for years to come.
In an interview in the December issue of Edge magazine, Ryan admitted that the transition from PS3 to PS4 was quite abrupt. He added that the company is taking a different approach as it focuses on the PlayStation 5.
“We believe we have a responsibility to that great community and an opportunity to continue to make great games for the PS4 for as long as it takes,” Sony chief explained. “I think you’ll see a queue with PS4 that you haven’t seen with PS3. But that said, as time goes on, you’ll see more and more emphasis on PS5 development.”
In other words, Sony will eliminate the PS4 much slower than the PlayStation 3. This commitment is great news for gamers who are usually expecting a price drop or for those who can’t get a PS5, due to scalpers charging triple the price or more for a unit. It also means new and fresh games for the future for users who tend to stick to their old systems.
The decision to change the transition speed from PS4 to PS5 makes more sense this time as well. PlayStation 4 is the second best-selling console from Sony, delivering over 113 million units and counting, slightly behind the PS2 (155M) and just ahead of the original PlayStation (102M). Early adoption rates have indicated that the PS4 will easily surpass 87 million PlayStation 3s in sales for life. So it made sense for Sony to focus more on PS4 content production.
There is also a strong emphasis on compatibility with the previous version of the PlayStation 5, a feature that was missing for the first time on the PlayStation 3. Knowing that most, if not all new PS4 games will run as well or better on a The PS5 should soften somewhat with a production schedule that initially favored the PlayStation 4.
What does this mean for PS5 owners? Will they see fewer games on their shiny new consoles? Probably not.
While games in Sony-owned studios will be a little more focused on PS4 content at first, third-party developers have shown a keen interest in bringing their titles to the new, more powerful platform. Many studios that produce PS4 games are still looking to port their creations to the PlayStation 5, often offering the next free version to customers who have already purchased it on the PS4. So there will probably be no gap in terms of quality games for PS5.