Sony executive Eric Lempel is making the bold claim that the PS5 will boast the "best line-up that we've ever seen in the history of PlayStation."
The comments come as part of a new interview with GamesIndustry and Lempel, who is senior vice president and global marketing head at Sony Interactive Entertainment. He offered an inside look at the company's approach to the PS5 launch and the challenges it faces. More than anything, Lempel maintains that "we will launch this year – that will happen – and from my end we will absolutely make sure that we will bring all of the magic and all of the excitement of launches that we have had in the past."
To help make up for the lack of in-person demos and events – which aren't possible due to the coronavirus – the PS5 marketing campaign will take a more focused approach to begin with, Lempel says. Its first ad spot highlights three individual features: the haptic feedback on the DualSense controllers, how its adaptive triggers can augment games, and how the console uses 3D audio. This was followed by a deep dive from nearly a dozen PS5 developers who explained how the DualSense improves on the sensory experience of the DualShock 4.
"This is probably the most literal part of the campaign, where we're really deliberately talking and trying to convey feeling different parts of the product," Lempel tells GamesIndustry. "There will be other parts of the campaign that will be much broader and generate the excitement of the world of interactive entertainment that PlayStation can bring you. We felt like this was a good way to kick off specifically talking about PlayStation 5 and what's different, and these three things are part of the big differences. There are more beyond this of course."
Sony has heavily pushed improvements in the way games sound, feel, and load on PS5, so I suspect we'll see ads specifically targeting the console's SSD in the near future. Graphics will also play a part, as we've seen in demos like the Unreal Engine 5 showcase, but this generation's visual leap will be the smallest yet, so it's no surprise that other benefits are taking center stage.
Finally, while the exact day-one lineup is still coming into focus, Lempel says "the content that will be in the launch window and beyond is incredibly exciting. I would say that this is the best line-up that we've ever seen in the history of PlayStation, between our Worldwide Studios groups and our partners from all the different publishers around the world."
With more and more next-gen games slipping to 2021, most recently timed PS5 exclusive Deathloop, the first quarter of the new year may end up being the true launch period.
