This past week during GDC, Sony has been very open with regards to promoting the PlayStation 4 to developers. They were actively recruiting developers and had the Dual Shock 4 on display in its booth.
Some thought that Microsoft would unveil their next Xbox at the event, which has proven untrue, and it’s a rumor that there was no presence at all, public or private, for Microsoft’s next console. However, Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein says that assumption “isn’t true,” noting that Sony is simply more public right now with their next-gen console.
“I think that’s more perception than reality,” Rein said of Microsoft’s suggested absence from GDC to CVG. “Microsoft has always been very developer centric with all of their platforms and that Sony is embracing that approach is wonderful. But I don’t think it diminishes what Microsoft is doing.”
“I don’t think with developer relations anyone is trying to be public, it’s just you’re at GDC and Sony has the hardware to talk about, and Microsoft hasn’t talked about it publicly yet,” he added. “So I think it’s just the difference between someone who can say the name of their console and someone who can’t.”
For Sony, Epic showed off an extended video of its Unreal Engine 4 ‘Elemental’ demo running on the PS4 (watch it here), and Rein had nothing but good things to say about the hardware. “It’s abundantly clear that PS4 is being driven as a collaboration between East and West, as opposed to a dictation from one side to the other,” he said. “Developers are fully involved, activated, discussed and doing really cool collaborative things.”
