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Sony looking to pick up Wii audience

House says to expect more PS4 "remastered" last-gen hits aimed at early adopters who passed on PS3

Sony is hoping the PlayStation 4 can appeal to people who passed on its predecessor. Speaking with Eurogamer, Sony Computer Entertainment president and group CEO, Andrew House said the company is pushing to convert customers from one of its competitor's systems.

"Our big opportunity is to welcome back an audience much earlier in the lifecycle that possibly bought into the Wii previously," House said.

House said the PS4 can win that audience over as an all-around entertainment device in addition to being a machine that plays games. But as much as streaming services and an array of media options might be selling points, Sony isn't ignoring the games side of the equation. One specific strategy Sony is taking to cater to that crowd is "remastering" exclusive PS3 titles for new PS4 owners. The first such effort, The Last of Us Remastered, releases later this month.

"I hesitate to say this because I know committed gamers may roll their eyes about it, but there's an opportunity with some of the remastering or re-imagining from PS3 franchises that will potentially find an audience that hasn't played them in the previous generation because they skipped that generation," House said. "We're starting to see signs of that.

"That bodes well for us as a platform, but it bodes well for developers and publishers as well. I've always looked with envy at the movie industry about what a great job they're able to do with taking content and making it work. Disney is the best example of this, right, of taking classic content and reintroducing it to audiences over time. We as an industry haven't done that historically. We're only just getting into our stride with people who now have been playing for 10, 20 years, who have a nostalgia factor, who want to see those franchises come back and be reinvented."

Sony has some experience with the concept already, as the PS3 saw a number of PS2 titles revamped with high-definition visuals and re-released, including God of War and Shadow of the Colossus. House said the trend of re-releases is an area he wants the PS4 "to lead the charge on."

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Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot in the US.

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