In a nutshell, Sony focused primarily on games for the PS3, Vita and PS4 and dedicated only a small fraction of stage time to new design features and specs of the PS4; this was in spite of the fact that at the official reveal the actual console itself was not shown. A point that Sony clearly intended to make was that it had not lost interest in all 70 million PS3 players in the world; this point was exemplified by the multiple games that were announced as coming to the PS3 this summer as well as ones releasing right before the new generation launch. Some of the games included The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls.
The natural progression of ideas led to the confirming–much to the relief of many fans watching– that the PS4 will indeed be backwards compatible and that Sony shall not restrict used games in any way. The decision on whether a game can be resold or shared is purely up to the developers of that game. So the overall message behind these announcements and the implied contrast between PS4 and Microsoft’s One is that the consumer is the driving force behind playstation, and thus directly influences their business model. The USA market price was revealed to be at $399: one hundred dollars cheaper than the console that took stage only hours before them. However, Sony did add on that for the next generation console there will be a fee for online gameplay, something of which Playstation users are not quite used to. The fee comes in the form of mandatory subscription to Playstation Plus with the price being at under five dollars a month; yet producer Jack Tratton assured that one does not require Playstation Plus in order to play games, just multi-player.
Aside from the displaying of the PS4 for the first time and the announcement of key console functions, the focus was entirely on exclusive games. Sony announced that there will be forty-third party games that will have exclusive content on the PS4 including high revenue games such as Assassin’s Creed Black Flag and the much-anticipated Watch Dogs; furthermore, it has been confirmed that there will be over twenty new first party games (including sequels) and the majority of which are hoped to be released in the first year of the cycle. The main exclusive titles mentioned are Killzone, Infamous and Kingdom Heart sequels. For you gamers that have a steady finger on the pulse of the industry, you will be glad to hear that there is not a lost hope for The Last Guardian. Tratton is recorded as saying post conference in response to online fan inquires that no first party game projects such as The Last Guardian truly go away. Perhaps this is finally the hint that fans have been waiting for.
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