SIE Head: New Subscription Releases Are Not For Us – It’s Not Viable
Sony’s presentation has already died down, but various details regarding prices and the approach to releasing their titles continue to arrive. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan touched on several key points in an interview with GI.biz – the options for available consoles, subscription services and differences in approach between Sony and Microsoft.
Ryan stated that the company originally wanted to give players the certainty and confidence that the PS5 they bought will last for years. That this is truly a new generation console that does not compromise by releasing several versions of different powers.
Generally speaking, in terms of hardware, we wanted to give players confidence. The confidence that they are acquiring a truly nextgen console. It is very important to convey that the only difference between PS5 with and without a drive is in this drive itself.
When users buy a device and expect it to last for several years, they want to be confident in it. They want to know for sure that if they buy a PS5, it must be compatible with the 4K TV they are planning to buy.
Plus, don’t forget about the developers. We want to minimize compromises in system architecture.
Ryan did not pass up subscription services. He commented on Sony’s attitude towards Xbox Game Pass and a possible mirror response. According to him, for Sony, this approach is simply pointless and not viable, so the company will continue to focus on PS Now, PS Plus and PS Plus Collection, which gives access to a select library of games from PS4.
This subscription contains excellent exclusives and titles from our partners. If you didn’t own a PS4 but decided to purchase a PS5 with a PS Plus subscription, then you essentially get the PS4 itself for the subscription price. We think this is very cool.
When it comes to our new subscription games, we believe that this is not the way the platform is defined. Our message has always been cool new games. We will not provide access to new titles by subscription. Development sometimes costs more than $ 100 million. It just isn’t viable.
We want games to get bigger and better, to have some kind of certainty and consistency. Subscription games don’t make sense to us – we want to expand our existing ecosystem.
In Russia PS5 will go on sale on November 19. Pre-orders are already open at some retailers. The price for the Digital Edition will be 37,999 rubles, and with an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – 46,999 rubles.
