Jim Ryan, President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe (SIEE), has defended the format holder’s new trailers for The Last of Us Part 2 and Detroit: Become Human following accusations of unnecessary violence.
Showcased during Sony’s Paris Games Week conference, the trailers depicted heavy violence and domestic child abuse, and were premiered during early evening.
As such, criticism has been aimed at Sony’s decision to air the footage at this time without any content warning, as well as the company’s need to market new video games by glamorizing violence.
However, Ryan, who also serves as the President of Global Sales and Marketing for SIE, told The Telegraph that games such as The Last of Us Part 2 are very much directed at adults. He also pointed to the diverse range of titles showcased during the Media Showcase.
“We showed a lovely range of games [at the Media Showcase] last night,” said Ryan.
“The Last of Us obviously is a game made by adults to be played by adults. I should never prejudge this but it will probably be rated ’18’, I think it’s fair to say. And there’s that market for those people who like that sort of game. Adults who like that sort of game. And I think we cater for that, and at the other end of the spectrum there was Concrete Genie, which my 8 year old decided was the game she would like to play very much.”
“I think a platform holder provides a platform and the people who make games, whether they’re our own studios or third party publishers, they bring the content to the platform. We provide the platform. We have to ensure the right content is played by the right people – of appropriate ages in particular. I thought The Last of Us Part 2 was a great way to end the show and I feel very good about it.”
“I think what we’re trying to do is to portray qualities of the various games we had on show. And I think it is difficult when you have a clip of four or five minutes to synthesise a gameplay experience that can be measured in the tens of hours. And, again, the studio was seeking to portray a game that will be rated as suitable for adults to play and that’s what we did.”
The Last of Us Part 2 has yet to attract a release date. Detroit: Become Human is due to ship exclusively for PS4 in spring 2018.