Sony Worldwide Studios Europe Vice President Michael Denny has already offered up his thoughts about the PlayStation Vita this week at gamescom, and in a new interview with VG247, Denny discussed all the new software shown off at the PlayStation press conference:
It was really exciting. As you say, a lot of new stuff. We kind of set out with that in mind. It’s always interesting with gamescom coming so soon after E3. We always want to talk about a lot of new content at E3, so usually it’s what’s left for gamescom. We deliberately didn’t want to repeat E3 and update on the big titles.
The big titles are obviously massively important to us, and it was great to do the pre-show with The Order, Bloodborne, LittleBigPlanet, and the new standalone inFamous content, First Light, but we wanted, and specifically in my section, to concentrate on fresh IPs. We think it’s exciting, and we think it shows PlayStation fans that there’s a lot of new stuff to come.
Moving to specific titles, Denny was asked if he thinks Bloodborne will be accessible enough to people who are impressed solely by the visuals:
I think you have to look at the track record of the developer, From Software, and the games they’ve made. Their fanbase have been really passionate. I think with Bloodborne, and with graphics as well, they’re taking their games to the next level. We’re hoping that will be a big, breakout title for us.
He then revealed that they’re excited about the new direction for Until Dawn on PS4, and they would have cancelled it if they weren’t:
Yeah, we are excited about it. We wouldn’t have continued with it and put it into development if we weren’t. The concept we had for the game goes back a long way. As you know, we started on PlayStation 3 as a Move-controlled game, but the essence of the concept we’ve always liked.
It’s our job in Worldwide Studios to look at these things and ask whether or not they’re going in the right way or if there’s a better platform for it, or could it take a different direction. We’ve always wanted to keep the essence of the concept alive and deliver it. We thought, ‘What about Until Dawn for PlayStation 4? Make it a bit darker. Make it more accessible to gamers on DualShock 4 as well, rather than limit it to Move.’ We are excited about the project.
One of the best moments from gamescom 2014 came after the PlayStation press conference when people realized that P.T. was actually Silent Hills. Unfortunately, Denny was unable to say if Silent Hills would be exclusive to PlayStation 4:
It isn’t a first-party game, so it’s not a project I’m connected with. It was great to do the teaser and then for people discover what it’s all about and the excitement to come through. I think we’re all excited it’s coming to PlayStation 4.
Finally, Denny addressed the PlayStation 4 version of Grand Theft Auto V missing in action at the conference, saying, “I don’t think you should read anything into it. GTA is coming to PlayStation 4. It’s going to be fantastic for everybody. We just had nothing new to update on last night.”
