Sony Exec Says 2016 Lineup Looks 'Incredible'
By Jasmine Henry 26 November 2015
After the PlayStation 4 had a disappointing holiday 2015 lineup of games, one Sony executive says that the console’s 2016 first party lineup will be “incredible”.
One of the biggest talking points surrounding the Sony PlayStation 4 recently has been the console’s lack of holiday exclusives. While it’s true that the console’s sales haven’t suffered too much because of it (the PS4 beat the Xbox One’s sales in November), the fact that the Xbox One has gotten Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider hasn’t exactly helped either. Sony certainly won’t want a repeat of this next year and in a new interview, the company outlines its plans for turning things around.
At a PlayStation 20th Anniversary event in Sydney, Australia, Michael Ephraim, Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, admitted to GameSpot that “we have worked very closely with third parties this year because our first party lineup was not as a strong as we would have liked”. These deals include the Star Wars Battlefront partnership (e.g the PS4 Darth Vader Bundle), Call of Duty: Black Ops 3‘s timed exclusive DLC (DLC lands on PS4 30 days before any other platform) and Sony’s continued partnership with Destiny, with PlayStation exclusive events and gear being planned for 2016.
But “next year”, says Ephraim, “our first party lineup looks incredible” name-checking several big name franchises and titles coming to PS4 in 2016. For example there’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which will offer an explosive end to the blockbuster game series, there’s The Last Guardian with the highly anticipated title finally set for release next year and then there’s No Man’s Sky which has wowed everyone with its massive, universe-exploring scale. And then there’s Gran Turismo Sport and Street Fighter 5. “These are all exclusives, and two of them are new franchises”, points out the Sony exec.
Curiously, what isn’t part of this ‘PS4 first party’ plan is PlayStation VR, Sony’s upcoming virtual reality headset. Ephraim notes that the headset is still in the “planning stages” and that “based on the responses we’re getting so far: it’s very solid” but, he explains, “our core business right now is PlayStation 4 and the offerings we have on there” and that “in 12 months time, PlayStation 4 is still the primary business because it’s the foundational device”.
That information will be disappointing to those who are excited for the device (which still doesn’t have a release date other than ‘early 2016’) but Sony will not want to spread its resources too thin as it tries to make up for holiday 2015.
Source: GameSpot
Which PS4 game are you most excited to play? Are you looking forward to the PlayStation VR headset? Leave a comment and let us know.
