Sony arguably had one of its best E3 showings of all time this year but there are still some concerns regarding first party titles for the PS4. You wouldn’t think as much considering games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Dreams. However, the first two are out next year and the third doesn’t have a release date. Does that mean Sony needs third party titles to survive at this time?
GameSpot interviewed PlayStation Europe chief executive Jim Ryan on the same and asked whether key third party deals were necessary since the overall first party slate is looking slightly thin at the moment.
Ryan replied, “Yes I’ll admit it’s not the strongest we’ve ever had. But if you look over the full year, we’ve had Bloodborne, we’re getting Until Dawn, and Tearaway Unfolded. I think the latter will surprise many people, and we also have the Uncharted trilogy. So taking all that, and added with all the third-party games in the pipeline for this year, we’re feeling confident.”
Sony still has quite the advantage right now as the PS4 is the most popular console currently (more than 22.3 million units worldwide and counting as of April 2015 end) despite the lack of a flagship first party title. What are your Ryan’s thoughts on that?
“Well, it certainly gives us some cause for optimism in 2016 (when Sony will ship major titles, such as Uncharted 4). Certainly in the UK, it’s still rather close [when compared to Xbox One sales], but we have been edging ahead every month. But across Europe, it’s fair to say we’re beating [Microsoft] by a considerable margin. Once you get into that position, the popularity of a console can start to become its selling point.
“So when you look at what drives sales of a console, obviously exclusive games do help, but if you have 75 to 80 percent of the market, it makes the system easier to sell.”
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