In a recent interview, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President Jim Ryan discussed the major announcements made at Paris Games Week, and what could lie ahead for PlayStation experience. Earlier this week, Sony took to the stage at the European games convention and made several big announcements, including Quantic Dream’s new game, Detroit: Become Human, and No Man Sky’s release window. You can find all of the announcements in one place here.
When pressed about what was left out of the Paris Games Week announcements, he said “There’ll be a few surprises for PlayStation Experience.” Games notably left out of this week’s announcements include The Last Guardian, which was revealed to now be in development for PlayStation 4, after initially being announced for the PlayStation 3 and a subsequent long hiatus. When Rime, an upcoming open-world puzzle game, came up, he said “Don’t read anything into it, one way or another.” Sony may be keeping both games until PlayStation Experience, which takes place this year in San Francisco on December 5th and 6th.
Talking about the new Gran Turismo game, Ryan wouldn’t clarify what it was, but did say it will be “more than a prologue”, but not Gran Turismo 7. Ryan admitted that Driveclub’s launch “almost definitely didn’t go well,” but “is now much played,” according to Sony’s server data. He is certain that Driveclub and Gran Turismo can coexist on the PlayStation platform, something many have worried about since the former’s announcement at the PlayStation 4 unveiling two years ago.
On Quantic Dream’s new effort, Ryan complimented David Cage as someone who brings fresh and different approaches, instead of recycling low-risk annual iterations. He said the game shouldn’t suffer from lack of celebrity star power (the studio’s last game, Beyond: Two Souls, featured Ellen Page and Willem Defoe, although their participation didn’t help the game much).
When asked whether the Uncharted franchise would continue past Naughty Dog’s involvement, which has been hinted to end with Uncharted 4, Ryan said that the IP “is very closely tied to that developer. That’s all I’ll say… It’d be a difficult step to break that association.”
No Man’s Sky, whose launch window was revealed at the event this week as June 2016, has been identified by some as a good candidate for a VR game. When asked about the game’s ability to launch simultaneously with PlayStation VR, Jim Ryan laughs and says “you’re not going to get anywhere with that one I’m afraid.” On backwards compatibility, a feature that many users have clamored for, especially since the Xbox One will have it starting in November, Ryan says that it is a much-discussed but little-used feature, which is why Sony’s focus is on new games.
PlayStation experience, Sony’s next major event, will be held December 5th and 6th.
