PS5 PlayStation 5 Sony Strategy Microsoft Xbox

At this point we could probably guess at Sony's PlayStation 5 strategy and not be too far from reality, but in an interesting new GamesIndustry article, former boss of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Chris Deering, provides some insight into how the company handles the PlayStation brand from behind the scenes.

Said article is mainly about the PS2 and how the console achieved its runaway success, but Deering -- who played a huge role in solidifying PlayStation as a dominant force in gaming -- goes as far to mention the upcoming PS5.

According to Deering, Sony has been targeting Microsoft since the PS2 days, back when PlayStation first had to compete with Xbox. "We targeted Microsoft from day one -- we were ruthless. I'm not of this mentality anymore, but at the time it was life or death as far as I was concerned. We had this expression in our business meetings: 'Kill them right at the start and take no prisoners' when it came to Microsoft."

Deering continues: "It worked at least for PS2, and it continued to work on PS3 and PS4, and it'll probably continue to work on PS5 because we drove piles under the strength of the PlayStation equals games concept at that stage when we were getting ready to take Microsoft on."

It's especially interesting that Deering brings up "PlayStation equals games", as this certainly isn't the first time that we've heard a Sony executive highlight software as the key to the brand's success. As we all know, Sony's exclusive PS4 titles have played an incredibly important role throughout this generation in particular, and back in the summer of last year, a report on Sony's PS5 strategy said that the Japanese giant will continue to push games first and foremost.

[source gamesindustry.biz]