Sony Interactive CEO Jim Ryan recently shared some details on how the PlayStation 4 gained success aside from its usual tactics.
Two of the major elements that made the PS4 successful were the expansion of the demographics and the “stickiness” of the PlayStation experience. This brought in more customers compared to previous consoles. There were actually other factors that made it quite successful.
According to Ryan, the work that they have done with female protagonists in gaming made it possible to increasing the female presence within the PlayStation community. Since there were more female main protagonists, the female demographic rose up and brought in more customers.
There was also the geography where the PS4 was available in more countries compared to previous PS console systems.
Ryan stated:
The PS4 generation saw us make huge strides in Germany and the Middle East, and I think there is further progress to be made in both of those areas. But equally, I think Asia — outside of Japan — has huge potential for us. And Latin America has huge potential for us.
When I was in charge of Europe, we had a pretty clear template for the way that we would open up markets. Some markets opened up faster than others. Germany took some time, but we got there. Middle East, some parts of that were very difficult, but we got there. Having very competent, on-the-ground teams with simple but focused distribution, and proper investment in the brand and proper marketing, can quite quickly yield significant dividends.
Ryan also shared that Latin America was a very difficult region to sell on. There were different currencies, the expensive import tariffs, and the geopolitical situations in a lot of the countries were very complicated.
Despite all that, the PS4 was a resounding success. The upcoming PlayStation 5 is already riding this success and hopefully it can outsell it when it launches soon.
Interview Source: GamesIndustry.biz
