14 DAY TRIAL // The team at Sony working on the PlayStation 4 home console says that it is happy with its successful launch period because it validates its philosophy of creating a device with a lot of features that’s easy to develop for.
Fergal Gara, who leads the Sony gaming division in the United Kingdom, tells Gamespot that, “It is as simple as that. Is much easier to develop for, and it is performing and packing the punch that developers want. We came up with the right product at the right price, for the right core audience to get us off to a strong start.”
Sony says that the PlayStation 4 has managed to move more than 4.2 million units to gamers before the end of 2013 and that demand is so high that it is still struggling to deliver enough consoles to retailers in most countries.
At the same time, the Sony executive understands that a successful launch is not a guarantee that home consoles will keep the same pace for the foreseeable future.
He adds, “But that’s not the whole job. A strong start is invaluable, but it definitely isn’t the whole job. At this stage in the PlayStation 3 life cycle versus Xbox 360, we hadn’t even launched. We were 16 months behind. A lot can be achieved – millions of consoles can be achieved – despite a poor start, and we certainly had that the last time around.”
A number of retailers are reporting that 1.5 PlayStation 4 consoles are being sold for each Xbox One that finds a customer.
Sony says that it is planning to upgrade the capabilities of its platform via firmware updates and that it will also introduce interesting bundles in the coming months, although no details have been offered on the titles that the company will use.