Since the leaked PS5 DevKit Prototype images surfaced last month PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan revealed several areas Sony must focus on for a successful transition to their next-generation PlayStation 5 console slated for a holiday 2020 PS5 release date. 
Below are some excerpt quotes from the recent interview with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan from GamesIndustry.biz:
Below are some excerpt quotes from the recent interview with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan from GamesIndustry.biz:
- As we move towards the next-generation in 2020, one of our tasks -- probably our main task -- is to take that community and transition it from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, and at a scale and pace that we've never delivered on before.
- One thing that makes me particularly optimistic that what we're hearing from developers and publishers, is the ease in which they are able to get code running on PlayStation 5 is way beyond any experience they've had on any other PlayStation platform.
- If we are to be successful, we really have to leverage the opportunities that globalisation brings. I am going to give you some examples. One is around the productisation of PlayStation 5, the definition of the feature set, of the development and the implementation of those features. That process, this time around, has been massively more streamlined compared to anything we've done in the past.
- The product planners are now having one conversation instead of three different regional conversations, where they needed to reconcile positions that were often conflicting or contradictory, with an endless process of iteration and consensus. That's not happening anymore. We have one conversation and we get on and do stuff.
- The second area is in our marketing. The first global campaign that we ran was around Spider-Man. It's a great game obviously, but it also ended up as PlayStation's bestselling first party game. It was one global campaign conceived and executed in an outstanding manner, as opposed to three different regional campaigns that are often executed very well, but the same thing in essence done three times.
- The European execution showcases FIFA principally, the US execution showcases Fortnite, and the Japanese execution showcases Final Fantasy VII. Again, this is one campaign with tailored regional executions, but the campaign is just done once. These are areas where we see having a global approach as being logical -- necessary perhaps -- and certainly beneficial to the gaming community.
- The nature of AAA PlayStation 4 and certainly PlayStation 5 development... We're obviously not going to have Worldwide Studios make a game for one specific European country, and that might have been the case back in the PSP times with Invizimals which was popular in Spain.
- The cloud is probably the most visible and topical manifestation. Because if you foresee a world in five years time where a significant amount of gaming content is distributed via the cloud, and games are made in a way that takes advantage of the cloud, then clearly organisational models that support that distribution scenario are going to be different to the organisation models that support physical products or digital downloads. Everybody, not just PlayStation, is in for a rollercoaster ride of constant evolution.
- Our stance on the inclusion of first party games in PlayStation Now in terms of what we've done this month is very different to our stance 12 months ago. I don't want to say this is what PlayStation Now is going to be like forever. But certainly right now, given how some of our first party IP is incredibly special and valuable, we just want to treat them with amazing care and respect, and have those launches be clean and pure.
- It's human nature to view change as a risk, but change is every bit an opportunity. I would point to the fact that the transition from physical distribution to a networked world has led to PlayStation being able to build this amazing community of 100 million people within this generation, and at the same time enjoy considerable business success. That shift from physical to digital, five or six years ago, was viewed with great nervousness and trepidation. But, as far as I can tell from those who play games and for us, the impact of that transition has been entirely divine.
