14 DAY TRIAL // An executive working for Sony has said that the recently released Gran Turismo 5, the racing simulator developed by Polyphony Digital, will be one of the video games which will drive sales of the PlayStation 3 up during the crucial Christmas period, despite the long delays that preceded the launch.
David Wilson, who is the head of public relations at the United Kingdom branch of Sony, has stated, “2010 has been one of the strongest years in recent memory for quality game releases, and we have culminated the year with the launch of Gran Turismo 5”, before adding, “We are confident that Gran Turismo 5 will do great business between launch and Christmas.”
He added, “GT5 has been in the making for five years and we believe that it will serve as a true driver of new console purchases. We know it has been a long wait, but we genuinely believe that fans of Gran Turismo will not be disappointed.”
Both Sony and Microsoft have long had a strategy of securing exclusive video games in order to draw a specific set of gamers to one platform or another.
The big exclusive launches for the PlayStation 3 in 2010 included God of War III and Heavy Rain.
Gran Turismo 5 has no clear competition from Microsoft and a lot of racing fans who are interested in experiences that are close to real life might be tempted to pick up the game alongside a console for Christmas to enjoy the experience during the holidays or to gift it to other gamers.
With the release of Kinect and Move, the two new motion tracking systems, Microsoft and Sony are aiming to further separate the audiences for their consoles and make sure that its hard, both in terms of finance and experience to switch from one home console to the other.