Jim Ryan, the CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment told BBC Radio 1 what challenges awaited Sony during the launch of the PlayStation 5.

The PlayStation 4 is Sony’s second best-selling console (only the PS2 tops it, although by over 40 million units sold), but Ryan said that there’s a difference with the PlayStation 5’s launch, namely the „sensory engagement.” The transition between the two generations is more subtle (due to the backwards compatibility), but Ryan still calls it transformational.

„[The PlayStation 5] has more horsepower and runs faster with better graphics [than the PlayStation 4]. But the difference goes way beyond that. You’ve got to get one of these [DualSense] controllers in your hands to feel the action of pulling a bow or letting an arrow go or shooting a gun. It’s something people have been doing for years. But this is taking something that had become rather mundane, and adding a whole new layer of meaning and experience to it,” Ryan says.

He also thinks that the PlayStation 5’s launch line-up (which we previously put together into a list) will have „something for everyone,” and BBC is underestimating how many PlayStation 4 titles will run on the PlayStation 5 (it won’t be just dozens of popular games, including the 100 most played, but almost every PS4 title). He added that we don’t have to wait until a „not too distant future” for new PlayStation 5 games (which makes sense: for example, we just learned when Gran Turismo 7 will launch).

„In a completely ideal world, we would like to launch everywhere in the world on the same day. We just needed an extra few days to get everything to be able to have a proper, professional, seamless PlayStation-style launch,” he adds. (Except the Xbox Series managed to get a global launch on November 10… on paper at least.)

„[It has been] a rollercoaster. The most extraordinary thing is all of this has taken place in 2020. The one thing I’ve learned is I’ll never do this again in a pandemic,” Ryan says, claiming that Sony has been astonished by the number of pre-orders. „We’re making more PlayStation 5s in this difficult environment then we made PlayStation 4s in that launch. If people are unable to find one at launch, we’re very sorry and apologetic about that. They can rest assured we’re working hard to get significant supplies into the market before and after Christmas. This is going to be a bigger launch [than the PS4]. And I think given the circumstances we’re in, that’s something that we can be quietly proud of,” he added.

The PlayStation 5 launched today in some regions and will follow suit on the 19th elsewhere.

Source: BBC

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