Sony defends violence and abuse in PGW trailers

Sony showed some intense and violent PlayStation 4 trailers during the Paris Games Week keynote. Both The Last of Us: Part II and Detroit: Become Human were shown off using graphic scenes with violence against children and women. Both videos stirred up strong reactions and critics condemning the use of extreme violence to sell games.

Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe and president of Global Sales and Marketing for Sony Interactive Entertainment, has reacted to critique in a interview with The Telegraph:

"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 eight-year-old decided was the game she would like to play very much."

"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."

When asked if Ryan thinks it was the right thing to show these scenes he replied: "I do. Yeah, I do", after he concludes the interview: "Again, we have a range of experiences. And that game will be there to be enjoyed by adults."

You can watch both trailers below:

Do you think Sony pushed things too far or do you feel it is important that games are allowed to venture into this sort of subject matter?