Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president Jim Ryan has told VG24/7 that the company plans to launch the PS4 "will all guns blazing" later this year.
It's fair to say Sony effectively declared all-out war on Microsoft at their pre-E3 press conference on Monday with a more powerful, cheaper console that avoids the internet requirements and used games restrictions of the Xbox One and it seems they're intent to keep up the onslaught.
Speaking about used games on PS4 Ryan said publishers are "allowed to do something like the Online Pass feature, which doesn't block or stop it… Basically, what we're saying is that there's no change from current-gen to next-gen.
"And very much the tide is going on current-gen is that people are not pursuing the Online Pass thing. It's being dropped. I mean, some publishers have gone bankrupt and others are dropping it."
The Online Pass feature – or whatever it's replaced by next-gen – will only affect the multiplayer elements of games on PS4.
With regard to the system's launch Ryan added "We're going for it. We're going to go for it. These UK guys will tell you, we're going to go for it. No messing around. All guns blazing."
Meanwhile Sony Worldwide Studios' president Shuhei Yoshida has informed CVG that they aim to prioritise Europe and North America over other regions – including Sony's native Japan – saying "It's not like we are not launching in other territories – we are waiting to get more information about manufacturing quantities and demand in each market so that we are able to decide where and when outside of the US and Europe."
The Xbox One is set to launch in Asia in 2014 but there's no release window for Microsoft's console in Japan at the current time.
Yoshida added that "Europe is a hugely important market" and that Sony always intended to make a console for $399 – which they did.
