Sony Interactive Entertainment CEOs Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nishino revealed some interesting tidbits about the company’s overall strategy in a recently published interview with variation.
In response to an early question about the release timing of the PlayStation 5 Pro, Nishino explained that the company “learned a lot” from the launch of the PS4 Pro. He said that “20% of customers actually got the PS4 Pro,” suggesting there is quite a bit of interest in high-end PlayStation devices. He also claimed that the company was seeing new users coming to PlayStation “to also buy PS4 Pro.”
As a result, “Sony started working on the PS5 Pro even before (the) PS5 launched.” Nishino continues: “It was another five-year project for us.”
As for whether a mid-range refresh like the PS5 Pro is really necessary, the CEO drew parallels to the world of mobile phones and PCs, where annual iterations are common. “Phones are updated every year, PCs are updated every year,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll do updates every year, but there are things we can bring together to bring great things to the gaming console segment.”
Nishino also commented on the early reception of the PS5 Pro, with pre-orders for the console starting last month. “We’re quite happy to see, as most committed gaming users are interested in the PS5 Pro,” he began, “and I’m pretty sure new users will grab the PS5 Pro as well.”
“We design everything with one thing in mind,” he added. “It’s not like we’re just taking the next step and we don’t know anything about the two steps ahead.” This last detail may not come as much of a surprise to those who have been keeping up with the latest PS6 rumors, which have already started to circulate.