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Sony's PS4 Plan Includes Courting Casual Gamers, Enhancing System Features

Here's a rundown of how Sony hopes to "expand the PlayStation ecosystem" this year and beyond.

203 Comments

Part of Sony's plan to grow the PlayStation business includes courting casual gamers and enhancing PlayStation 4 features overall, the company said on Wednesday as part of its annual Investor Relations Day.

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Investor Relations Day is when Sony reviews performance from the past year and discusses projections for how to expand the business going forward.

Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House led the presentation about the PlayStation business. He started off by sharing some strong PS4 statistics and achievements-- including 20 million+ consoles sold--all of which you can see in the chart below.

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Looking ahead to the future, however, is where things get more interesting. Sony's plan to "expand the PlayStation ecosystem" includes a number of steps to retain and expand the overall userbase. This includes efforts to court casual gamers, while also "strengthening the engagement" of core players.

Sony also said it hopes to increase the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) this fiscal year for the overall PlayStation platform. Part of the effort includes getting more people to sign up for PlayStation Plus by "enhancing its user value," as well as partnership campaigns with "best-in-class" services.

As would be expected, Sony spoke in broad strokes and did not provide much in the way of specifics. Sony is likely to talk in more detail about its gaming plans during E3 next month.

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For lots more on Sony's gaming plans for the current fiscal year, check out all of the slides from the presentation in the gallery below."

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OldDirtyCR

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Honestly these companies (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) are completely overcomplicating this. There is one main focus that will drive revenue.

RELEASE QUALITY GAMES. This is literally all they need to do. If Sony released like 5 games this year on par with Bloodborne they would have slaughtered the xbox in it's current state. If Nintendo could just release some good games within the first 2 years of their console's lifespan they could actually get some console sales in the beginning.

All these media apps and crap are fine and dandy, but the games are what people bought these consoles mostly for. People want good games NOW. I don't need another TV service. I simply want good games on a regular basis.

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Avatar image for skyhighgam3r
SkyHighGam3r

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Courting casual gamers...

All I hear when I hear "Casual Gamer" Is shovelware games like candy crush or angry birds.

Stupid mobile 'casual' crap.

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capntommorgan

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A controller that doesnt fall apart after 2 months would be a nice touch as well

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-S3R6i0-

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@capntommorgan: I bought a PS4 and so far have no regrets. But this controller feels like it's about to crack if I squeeze it hard. Sony made a really shoddy controller. But, at least I'm not on XSUX ONE!

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OldDirtyCR

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@capntommorgan: After playing bloodborne for like 200+ hours my R1 buttons is wonky now. I played my ps1/ps2/ps3 for literally thousands of hours each and never had any real issues button wise or anything. So this was quite a shock that my relatively new (got it for christmas) ps4 controller is already having an issue.


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Avatar image for skyhighgam3r
SkyHighGam3r

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@capntommorgan: lol sony make a half-decent controller??? Your in some kind of twilight zone if you think that's a possiblity.

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Jinzo_111887

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"Continuous enhancement of PS4 game features to maintain and strengthen competitive advantage" Free online multiplayer can improve that. PS3 was able to outsell the Exlaxbox 360 and I wouldn't doubt free online multiplayer had something to do with that.

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redhouse3

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@Jinzo_111887: yes, return of the free online multiplayer !!! It was the feature that most influenced my choice to go with sony vs xbox. then I was even happier with my choice cause sony does provide the better games and that stupid crooked xbox controller...

but now sony junked up the ps4 and filled it with all this stupid sharing crap. the other day it took me 20minutes to delete out all of the recent activity junk. why cant I just turn that off.

the japanese have always used minimalism as a philosophy , its time for a ps4 streamlined edition that just games and streams . leave the sharing to pc's and iphones.

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knobbymoto

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@Jinzo_111887: I totally agree. it was many things but the free online multiplayer that was what made PS3 sooo much better of a choice between consoles. I got a ps4 for xmas last year and after playing battlefield 4 on the ps3 for a year straight havent played it or anything else online since then. I just cant pay 50 bucks xtra to play the same game that I played for free.

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Mirimon78

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Online multiplayer is free, just not for specific titles or specific features of said titles all if which is up to the publisher/developer.

How about a more constructive solution rather than demands from the self ascribed entitled?

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daveg1

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disable fully the light on the controller..

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Mirimon78

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Why?

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Avatar image for Jinzo_111887
Jinzo_111887

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@Vodoo: It died when it confront SCP-682. The incident was recorded as another failed termination attempt.

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KiriharaZro

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@Vodoo:

lies lies lies lies TLG lies lies lies!

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Hybr1dH3r0

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<< LINK REMOVED >> And if I'm not mistaken, Microsoft's also cashing in on the casual gamer hype. So, by dint of your point, isn't Microsoft also "doomed to fail"?

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Avatar image for hybr1dh3r0
Hybr1dH3r0

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@drocdoc "Destine to fail"? You must be kidding, right? Indie games or "games for for casual gamers, if you will, are the wave of the future. Sony would be foolish to pass up on that opportunity.

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drocdoc

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Sony is destined to fail, as soon as I read casual in the title.

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Avatar image for -s3r6i0-
-S3R6i0-

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courting casual gamers... haha! Bloodborne was too much for these pussies!

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Mirimon78

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I'm wondering how ps plus could get any better....I already feel like I'm a bandit every month.

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redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: they could improve by removing all of the little kids sharing stuff, remove the recent activities stuff, stream line it. push the machine to play more and more enhanced games.

make it more for actuall gaming and movie entertainment and leave all the sharing junk to twitterers and facebookers on their pc or phones that are glued to their blue faced zombified hands. really ? a share button .

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Avatar image for Mirimon78
Mirimon78

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Why are you talking about the share button when I, and the article, are talking about ps plus?

Also.. integrating with social media and displaying things like recent activities, activities of friends, achievements, or media of note you might be interested was done last gen and the gaming comminity asked for more of this. (Fyi, there are settings which allow you to be a reclusive gamer, but if you hate public interaction sok much why are you posting on the internet?)

Again, the post is about ps plus...

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Avatar image for redhouse3
redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: I did address the ps online multiplayer issue and the fact that it should have remained free to one up microsoft in a separate post. I know about the settings ( none of which allow the user to turn off the recent activity junk) and use them.

Thanks me and my Barret will now crawl back to reclusiveness on the mountain and sight you and the other twitters from afar.

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Avatar image for Mirimon78
Mirimon78

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Given your apparent ineptitude for basic English I doubt you have to knowledge to calculate for long range shots, let alone the modicum skill and training for brm. You could only dream of being one of those fobbits with his gear bedazzled from some fatfighter shop and still have issues hitting the 300m target....

Fyi, online is still free, you seem incapable of differentiating psn from ps plus, what each does, and how the choice to use ps plus for a requirement is up to the dev/publisher. (Just fyi, out of those ~370 titles to play on the ps4 only 14 require ps plus....)

Back to the nursery with you.

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Avatar image for redhouse3
redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: you are just the reason why I hate people. i bet you were the captain of the chess team and leader of the a.v department in junior high school. probably still live with mom in the basement and your only true friend is your joystick.

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Avatar image for Mirimon78
Mirimon78

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Making many assumptions in your little internet tantrum aren't you?

You've shown your hand while throwing the deck accross the room here.

You don't really hate people, you hate yourself and have failed to accept and cope with that.

Come back after you have matured a bit, or be cast aside as the petulant child you are.

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Avatar image for redhouse3
redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: you are the one that decided to make anything personal. say hi to your mom when you go upstairs to get something from the fridge that she bought with her ebt card

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Mirimon78

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Petulant stomping it is then? What a shame, though I should have expected as much or less from you NCLB act kids.

Don't forget to drink some water as you dig that hole, you certainly seem exausted from it.

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redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: morlock

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Mirimon78

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6ft. is deep enough pal, but there you are, still going at it. How long do we usually have to wait for you to cry yourself to sleep?

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redhouse3

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@Mirimon78: starting to feel more like a guy with more money invested in his pc than in real life. seems like you spend all of your life on a key board . when was the last time you actually saw an open space of 900 + feet?

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Mirimon78

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Add crisco lard to your shovel, helps keep it from sticking in the clay.

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emptycow718

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Xboxone first pary lineup. Halo 5,tomb raider,forza,gears of war remaster. A real remaster not that fake remaster. Trash Sony puts out . Sony has nothing coming out

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ArabrockermanX

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@emptycow718: First party lineup, Tomb Raider.... You might want to look up what "first party" means...



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abehpfan

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@emptycow718: What's a fake remaster?

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emptycow718

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Sony is. The master of fake remasters.

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emptycow718

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A fake remaster is taking a last gen game and just porting it with zero graphics or audio updates

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abehpfan

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@emptycow718: Funny, all of Sony's remasters have had graphical and audio updates. I think you're just a salty fanboy.

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Jinzo_111887

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@emptycow718: It's easy to see the difference between the Gamecube and PS1 versions of Resident Evil.

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Mirimon78

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Oh.. so, pretty much most of the xb1 library.. and nearly half of the 360's library..

Mmmm salty xb0ts...

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emptycow718

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Sony is going to get crushed by ms this year

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hystavito

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Casuals on PS4? I guess that depends on what they mean by casuals. If we're talking the masses, the essentially non-gamer types, well good luck. In the age of mobile I find it hard to believe anyone is gonna win back that audience when the price of entry is a $400 console and the games cost $60 each.


Of course maybe they don't really mean on PS4, as it says in the article, "expand the PlayStation ecosystem", which could mean trying to bring in casuals with the PlaystationTV line or something.

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Tiwill44

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Strategy III : Keep not making games

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R-tofen

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Enhancing features should include DLNA, native audio /video playback (stuff not purchased through sony eg. off usb) and most importantly external HDD support for games! Ive been a loyal sony user since ps1, however i recently purchased my first gaming pc. If sony doesnt implement the above features in short order i can see myself being a pc first gamer. Come on Sony dont screw the pooch yet again.

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Mirimon78

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Usb plays music just fine.. have you tried using formats of higher quality than mp3?

No thanks on playing games from an external.. that simply invites hacking..

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R-tofen

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Invites hacking? Not likely. WiiU and xbone both support externals with few issues. And i say few cause i havent heard of any. But that doesnt mean there havent been any.

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emptycow718

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The vita is a joke also. It could have. Been the best handheld ever but Sony not having full. Playstion 1 support sucks and the memory sticks are trash over $100 for 30 gigs its a joke

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