PlayStation boss says fans ‘shouldn’t be disappointed’ with cross-gen game announcements

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has said fans shouldn’t be disappointed with Wednesday’s news that some key PS5 titles will also be released for its current-gen PS4 console.

Speaking to The Washington Post following Wednesday’s PS5 showcase, Ryan claimed the three titles confirmed to be cross-gen – Spider Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden Dawn and Sackboy: A Big Adventure – would still be built primarily for the next-gen machine.

“No one should be disappointed,” he said. “The PS5 versions of those games are built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set, and we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 versions for free. It’s about people having choice. I’m really quite pleased about the situation.”

PlayStation had previously promoted releasing games that were only possible on its more advanced PlayStation 5 console. Before Wednesday’s event, it did not have any announced cross-gen games and said it “believes in generations.”

PlayStation boss Ryan told WP he expects to support PlayStation 4 for up to four more years and claimed that “99 percent” of PS4 titles can be played on PS5 via backwards compatibility.

“The PS4 community will continue to be incredibly important to us for three or four years,” Ryan said. “Many will transition to PS5, we hope if we do our job well, but tens of millions will still be engaged with the PS4.”

Further Reading

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PlayStation confirms its PlayStation 5 games will cost up to $70 / £70

While some smaller or family titles will cost less

On PC, where former PS4 exclusives Death Stranding and Horizon: Zero Dawn recently released, Ryan suggested there were more PlayStation properties that could make the jump in future.

“The vision is that while we very much respect the primacy of PlayStation as the principle resting place for the great gaming intellectual property we have, we kind of think it’s time to explore extending the IP,” Ryan said.

“We think both of these steps are perfectly logical and rational things for us to do. We should be making that IP work a bit harder as an acquisition tool for the PlayStation community.”

On Wednesday Sony confirmed that PlayStation 5 will launch starting November 12 for $400 / £360 for the Digital Edition console and $500 / £450 for the standard edition.

The console will release first in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South Korea. The rest of the world will get the console a week later on Thursday, November 19, including Europe, Middle East, South America, Asia and South Africa.

The platform holder also confirmed that first-party PlayStation 5 games will retail up to $70 / £70, mimicking an industry-wide trend towards more expensive games on next-gen consoles.