PS5 launch line-up is "no comparison" to PS3 or PS4 line-ups, says Jim Ryan
PlayStation head Jim Ryan believes that the launch line-up for the PS5 is unlike anything Sony has offered at launch in recent generations.
In an interview over at GamesIndustry.biz, the PlayStation boss praised the launch line-up of the PlayStation 5 and noted that a part of the huge demand for the upcoming console comes, partly, from the strength of the games that will be available on the hardware on day one.
"It's probably not widely appreciated or understood, to what extent that we have grown our own game development capability organically over the course of this generation," Ryan tells the site.
"Obviously, it's been helped by the acquisition of Insomniac, and it's wonderful to have them as part of the family. I would just invite anybody to look at the launch window line-up of the PS4 generation, or PS3 generation, and compare it to what we are going to bring in the equivalent phase of PS5. There's just no comparison."
Sure enough, a first-party line-up consisting of Demon's Souls, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and the packed-in Astro's Playroom certainly looks better than the last two generations of launch line-up.
The PS3 came with Resistance: Fall of Man and Motorstorm, and the PS4's day one offerings included Killzone: Shadow Fall and Resogun.
Ryan also notes that the line-up we'll be seeing on November 12 or November 19 – depending on your region – is no accident, and is in fact the result of an intentional Sony strategy.
"That is the fruit of not massive spending sprees, but of very, very steadily, carefully planned organic growth," Ryan states. "[...] We've been working on this for years and years. Very quietly, in a very PlayStation way, we've been building something quite special with these studios. You can do it with frenzied acquisition, or measured acquisition, or you can do it organically."
It almost seems like a pop at Microsoft and the company's recent record-breaking acquisition of ZeniMax and Bethesda. Ryan and PlayStation don't seem phased by that deal – in fact, Sony seems more confident than ever.
"We are increasingly bullish in terms of the number of people that we think may engage with PS5," he tells GamesIndustry.biz. "[...] We are starting with 100 million gamers, who we hope to transition very, very rapidly onto PS5 [from PS4]."
It seems Sony is incredibly confident in the chances of the PS5, and believes the system's launch line-up to be a key element in its evolving next-gen plans.
And that makes sense, especially when you consider that the PS5 pre-sold as many units within 12 hours in the US as PS4 did during 12 weeks of pre-orders.