Sony's Jim Ryan Says It's 'Crucial' to Keep Serving PS4 Owners in Years to Come

Sony will seemingly continue to release new PS4 games for the next few years, after SIE CEO Jim Ryan explained that it's "crucial" to keep the console's huge audience of owners "engaged and happy". Speaking to GamesIndustry, Ryan explained that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic - and the boost given to many gaming brands as a result of so many more people staying home - has caused the company to reassess how it looks at serving owners of its soon-to-be last-gen console: "Obviously, our eyes and our horizons have lifted with regards to what's possible with that PS4 community, based on what we've observed over the last six months. That can be quite powerful, because in 2021, 2022... that PS4 community that we've spoken about, they will be the vast majority of people on PlayStations during that time. It is crucial that we keep them engaged and happy. And the last six months have demonstrated that we could do that to an extent that we didn't think possible when we were setting our minds pre-COVID." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-ps4-games-summer-2020-update&captions=true"] That may explain the recent shift in public philosophy we've seen from PlayStation regarding its PS5 exclusives. As recently as May, Ryan gave an interview in which he said he'd prefer developers to "make the most" of PS5's features, seemingly above making games that work across two generations of console. However, we subsequently saw the likes of Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon: Forbidden West announced for PS5 and PS4, which appears to push against that ideal somewhat. From a business standpoint, it's not an enormous surprise, of course - Sony's sold over 100 million PS4 consoles, meaning PS5 will have a far smaller market for years to come. That said, the company's aiming high with its new hardware, saying it hopes to sell more PS5s in its first fiscal year than PS4 managed. Ryan's clearly energised for the next generation, saying, "It's really exciting now. We are right on the brink. Everybody is four or five years into this, and it's really great to be so close to the big moment. You know, I've done them all, and this has easily been the most extraordinary of any of them." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] Preorders for the PlayStation 5 are currently sold out, but if more go up they'll be in our PS5 preorder guide right away. For everything you need to know about PlayStation 5, check out our PS5 guide. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.