Sony's focus with PS5 will be on the 'hard-core' consumer and triple-A titles
Sony says it's designing PlayStation 5 to appeal to the "hard-core" gaming customer who prefers "graphics-heavy" games.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Sony's main strategy with PlayStation 5 will be to draw consumers in with triple-A titles.
During a recent company strategy meeting, the company's chief executive, Kenichiro Yoshida, said "games have become more important than ever.”
This means Sony will concentrate less on showcasing independent games, and more on high-end offerings, said another Sony official. While it will still support indie titles, the emphasis will be on the larger publishers. In addition, the company itself will focus more on developing big-budget games at its own studios.
This, per the official, is because people buy consoles to "play high-quality games available only on that platform," not smaller games.
Sony hopes its focus on consumers who want the newest and the best available will separate it from its biggest competitor, Xbox Scarlett, when it enters the market.
Microsoft has always been Sony's console rival, as it doesn't consider Switch a threat. This is because the company feels Nintendo tends to appeal more to a "younger audience," compared to "PlayStation’s core demographic."
As far as Stadia is concerned, according to the WSJ report, Sony doesn't currently see the service as a threat. Once internet technology advances, it could then become a potential threat.
Rivals and non-rivals aside, with PS5, Sony's corporate focus will shift from overall sales numbers to those interested in the latest tech such as ray-tracing, and support for up to 8K, hoping such specs will be the console's selling point.
The next console from Sony is currently without a release window, but the general thinking is PlayStation 5 will be released during holiday 2020.
Xbox Scarlett is slated for a holiday 2020 release, and promises to “deliver a new level of immersion,” powered with GDDR6 memory, and a next-gen SSD. It too will feature hardware accelerated ray-tracing and 120fps/8K capability.
Microsoft also promises a variable refresh rate, “ultra-low latency input, and backwards compatibility with “four generations worth” of Xbox consoles.
Next year is going to be interesting.