Sony and Microsoft are in a battle now for the next generation of console supremacy, and with Microsoft taking a drastic u-yurn on its data connection and pre-owned games stance last week, now the focus of the two consoles turns towards the games.
Sony have stated that they have, via their first-party studios, 30 games in development for the PlayStation 4 and that of these 30, 20 are due to release within a year of the console’s launch. What’s more, 12 of these titles will be brand new franchises so there will be a good mix of old and new games coming to the PS4.
The word has come from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO Jim Ryan, who was speaking to Gamereactor at E3. He also revealed that many more of these 30 titles will be revealed at this year’s Gamescom gaming conference in Cologne in August.
“I’m sure you heard from [SCE Worldwide Studios boss] Shu [Yoshida] that he has—just his studios—he has 30 games in development. 20 of them are going to ship within the first year of the console’s life, and of those, 12 are new IP” Jones said.
“So there’s a lot going on, it’s just that we need to keep stuff back. We’ve got Gamescom for us Europeans—we need to have something to show at Gamescom, don’t we?”
Microsoft showcased a few more exclusive titles than Sony at its E3 event (Titanfall, Ryse, Halo and Sunset Overdrive) whereas Sony placed more of a focus on games such as Batman: Arkham Origins, WatchDogs and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, all of which are coming to both consoles in time.
Sony have announced that the first-party exclusives we’ve seen for the PlayStation 4 so far are DriveClub, Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son and The Order: 1886.
Hopefully Sony will have a host of other exclusives coming to us at Gamescom in August, which takes place from the 21st to the 25th, and they will be able to carry the momentum on from E3.
Microsoft’s Xbox One will be getting 15 exclusive games in the first year, of which eight will be new franchises – it looks like Sony may have trumped MS on this front too. However, the Xbox One will continue its relationship with Activision where it will get access to content for the Call Of Duty games before the PS4 does, which may sway some console fans.