Hey, Sony’s Thinking About the Playstation 4 After All!
By Jared Newman | Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 9:55 am
Just a few months ago, the Playstation 4 was not even a thought on Sony’s collective mind — at least according to Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai.
But now, a different executive has fessed up. Work on a future Playstation platform is already underway, says Masaru Kato, Sony’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. His comments came up when asked to explain higher research and development costs to investors, Eurogamer reports.
Sony’s next video console, which at this point has no name or release date, won’t require the kind of huge investment that made the Playstation 3 unprofitable for years, Kato said. With the Playstation 3, Sony invested in its own semiconductor facilities, but that seems unlikely this time around.
(UPDATE: Kato tells the Wall Street Journal that his remarks on research and development costs were actually in reference to Sony’s next-generation portable system, and that his other comments were a “general statement,” rather than an acknowledgement that the PS4 is in development. Sounds like spin to me, but whatever.)
I’ve proven awful at predicting when we’ll see new consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, but at this point, the picture is getting clearer. Nintendo has already announced that it’s developing a Wii successor for a 2012 launch, and the rumor mill is starting to churn on a follow-up to Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
In Sony’s case, the company has talked about a 10-year life cycle for the Playstation 3, which launched in November 2006. If the Playstation 4 — or whatever it’s called — launches within the next few years, that’ll put Sony right on schedule. It can keep supporting the Playstation 3 until 2016 or beyond, while transitioning most of its resources to the next console.
The bigger point is that the gears are finally turning. A year ago, there was only silence on the new console front, but now we’re starting to see rumors, murmurs and confirmations for all the big three console makers. It’s only going to intensify from now on.
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May 28th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
And will the PS4 not play games from the PS3 (like the PS3 refused to, except for that one discontinued model). And will the PS4's fan come on disturbingly loud pitched howl that made you wish you didn't upgrade to the "improved PS3" from the original PS3? And will they design their platform so that if they take off an online component of their games it makes it difficult/impossible to use apps like Hulu, Netflix and Portal 2, etc? With they have stale inapplicable information on their websites, websites that can't be read on huge widescreen TVs, and error messages that make you think you forgot your password and scramble to determine what it is, when in fact the site is just down?
I am so burnt out on Sony that it will take YEARS for me to sweeten up to them again, if ever, and I tolerate a lot of technological growing pains. They've lost their cool and seem to be run by suits now.
May 28th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Loud pitched howl?
January 4th, 2012 at 5:51 am
Makes me wonder 😛 Muay Thai Combinations | Muay Thai Kick | Martial Arts for Children
May 28th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
The biggest problem that I saw with the PS3 was the lack of backwards ability. That is one of the biggest mistake Sony did with the PS3
May 28th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
PS4? still haven't got my PS3 and now there's one new coming?
May 29th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
I am looking forward to this one, and more news regarding it. Xbox 720 anyone?
May 30th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
What if Atari made a Universal Play Box, where it would emulate any thing and every thing. And it could even do Japan's new 4K HDTV, 3D TV, and T1 or better connect to the NET or Web. And the next wave in games, ones you verbally speak to the game box to program. And the virtual worlds you could build would come from any video/movie sort you could find.
For example you could have the game box watch all 535 episodes of all the Star Treks, and you would now be playing in the Federation's Universe. You could be Kirk or even Khan.
I know that would make lawyers lawsuit happy, but that is where I feel Video Games will go.
October 20th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
What a great read, I'm really glad that I stumbled upon this.
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