Sony has spent a good amount of money attempting to reach out to different audiences with its PlayStation 4 console, a gamble that has paid off tremendously with over seven million units sold worldwide. However, it’s not done yet, and now it appears to be reaching out to a rather unique audience – people who checked out Nintendo’s motion-based Wii console.
Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO Andrew House, speaking with Eurogamer, explained that the company wishes to convert consumers who no longer play Nintendo’s previous system. “Our big opportunity is to welcome back an audience much earlier in the lifecycle that possibly bought into the Wii previously,” said House.
With the PS4, House believes that the audience can find appeal in the system as an all-around entertainment machine, as well as a gaming device. Surprisingly enough, both sides will get equal focus, as Sony wants to remind people that, yes, it can play extraordinary games, such as the remastered version of The Last of Us, which will make its debut on July 29.
“I hesitate to say this because I know committed gamers may roll their eyes about it, but there’s an opportunity with some of the remastering or re-imagining from PS3 franchises that will potentially find an audience that hasn’t played them in the previous generation because they skipped that generation,” House said. “We’re starting to see signs of that.
“That bodes well for us as a platform, but it bodes well for developers and publishers as well. I’ve always looked with envy at the movie industry about what a great job they’re able to do with taking content and making it work. Disney is the best example of this, right, of taking classic content and reintroducing it to audiences over time. We as an industry haven’t done that historically. We’re only just getting into our stride with people who now have been playing for 10, 20 years, who have a nostalgia factor, who want to see those franchises come back and be reinvented.”
Sony has already proven that re-releases work, with such packages as God of War Collection and Ico/Shadow of the Colossus Collection finding a place on the PlayStation 3. It’s only a matter of time before we see if this concept works once more.
Source: GamesIndustry International
