Sony VP Michael Denny On PlayStation 4 and Five Years of Planning Leading Up to Launch

 

This past February, Sony held an eventful announcement in New York City for the long-awaited Playstation 4, but it was more of a live press release than a grand opening. As Sony Worldwide Studios’ vice president Michael Denny told Edge Online, “I guess the starting point is that it’s been quite a journey to get to that announce [event]. It’s been, for all of us involved at looking at what PlayStation 4 should be, a five-year journey to get to that point. And what the announce in New York was all about was a chance for us to share our vision with everybody of what PlayStation 4 should be. And in essence I hope it came across that that vision is fairly simple, that we are absolutely looking at making a next-gen console for gamers and made by gamers.” Speaking in a mercurial manner, he kept details intriguingly mysterious while reflecting on the now infamously troubled release of the Playstation 3 back in 2006, lessons learned since then, five years of intense development for the PS4, and what Sony will bring to the gaming industry that they believe will trump all other consoles.

  Indeed, Denny believes that the new approach of combining brilliant simplicity with state-of-the-art design, support, and special features will not only blow the minds of dedicated gamers, but everyone else as well from casual noobs to their own major rivals Microsoft and Nintendo, leaving even their popular PS3 in the dust. If he's right, not only will audiences and experts finally forgive the beleaguered 2006 PS3 release debacle, they will embrace the PS4 as the undisputed gold standard of next-generation gaming at a time when many are beginning to question whether consoles in general will become obsolete. "I guess ultimately the consumers will answer that question, but from our point of view it’s about offering a new and differentiated experience. Gamers and consumers like new things and I think the console experience is still massively strong out there. Absolutely, gaming has proliferated across a number of devices and we need to embrace that. But none of those other devices are offering the kind of experience you can get on a home console and certainly one that we believe we’re going to offer with PlayStation 4."

  So with that in mind, Sony marketing strategy seems to be one of teasing the look and console itself, including even the estimated price, while giving us appetizers of it's new controller and capabilities. It remains to be seen, but so far we definitely savoring the Sony experience.