Earlier this year, Sony acknowledged that their first-party lineup in 2015 was “a little sparse,” receiving strong third-party support in the meantime. That’s all set to change in 2016 though, with the list of titles looking “incredible.”
Sitting down with GameSpot at a PlayStation 20th Anniversary event in Sydney, Michael Ephraim, PlayStation Australia’s Managing Director, mentioned the third-party partnerships on games like Destiny, Call of Duty, and Star Wars, adding, “So we’re pretty confident with the way Christmas is going. The demand is strong.”
Admitting that they worked very closely with third parties this year “because our first party lineup was not as a strong as we would have liked,” Ephraim said 2016 will be different:
Next year, our first party lineup looks incredible. You’ve got Street Fighter, Uncharted 4, No Man’s Sky, The Last Guardian, Gran Turismo. These are all exclusives, and two of them are new franchises.
Another first-party PS4 game currently scheduled for 2016 is Horizon Zero Dawn.
Even with PlayStation VR set to release in the first half of 2016, Ephraim said they’re “still in the planning stages.” For now, Sony’s core business is the PS4, with PSVR becoming “another component.”
He continued:
In 12 months time, PlayStation 4 is still the primary business because it’s the foundational device. PlayStation 4 will still be our primary objective to grow the install base. PlayStation VR is new, everyone wants it, there are a lot of publishers developing for it. But whether it’s going to just go completely nuts early, or if it’s a slow build, time will tell.
Along with being Sony’s fastest-selling console globally, PS4 is also the fastest-selling console in Australian hardware history, Ephraim confirmed
