8 May 2008
Ferry

PlayStation 4 planned 10 years ahead of release discusses Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai

In a recent interview Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai was asked about the PlayStation 4 and future Sony hardware always being planned / developed far ahead and how he feels about always thinking for what comes next despite Sony’s planned ten-year life cycle for the PlayStation 3. While it may seem obvious that if the PS3 sells well, there will be a PS4, it’s an interesting behind-the-scenes view.

Mr. Hirai answered: “Well I think in any given moment, you need to think both short-term - so, what are we doing next fiscal year, how do we grow the current business - but at the same time, you also need to look four or five years out as well. To say, OK, what is the consumer wanting to do in interactive entertainment five years from now, what can we as a platform holder propose, if you will, to the consumers, to say maybe we should so this or that, and make sure that we keep the consumers engaged, and really also make sure that we are leading the market as opposed to following it. So discussions are happening all the time, about both our short term plans - what are we doing this fiscal year, next fiscal year - as well as, what is the world going to look like, what is the landscape going to look like five years from now, or ten years from now.”

This last sentence would be referring to the PlayStation 4 planning. So the Kikizo interviewer asked what happens with the PlayStation brand in this rapidly progressing technology landscape.

Mr. Hirai answered: “I think so, I think so. But at the same time, I think we have proven with two consoles already that when you say it’s a ten-year lifecycle, it’s a ten-year lifecycle. And we have the luxury I think of being able to keep that long lifecycle going, which means that we don’t need to be talking about our next-generation platform, because again we have a very stable [current] platform. And we certainly don’t want to confuse the consumers once again, by talking about something that may or may not happen five years from now. And that’s something we’re talking about and discussing up here [taps his head] in the company, but it’s not something we talk about openly, again for fear of confusing the consumers. And quite honestly, I think the PlayStation 3, we’ve repositioned it, and it’s got quite a long way to go. I mean we’re just starting here.”

I’m glad there are professional interviewers out there. I’d be asking questions like whether or not the PS4 will have the Spider-Man font as well. I mean, aren’t you curious?

Update March 27, 2009: Sony Computer Entertainment has filed a “PS Cloud” trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office. This occurred on the same day the OnLive cloud gaming service was announced, which streams videogames to your TV or PC for direct play without the need for high-end PCs or consoles. It’s unclear whether or not Sony have been working on a similar cloud gaming subscription service or if it’s simply to cover their bases in case cloud gaming is the next big thing. Sony describes the PlayStation Cloud as a provider of “entertainment services, namely, providing an online videogame that users may access through the internet”. Anyone care to guess if they are describing future PS3 or PS4 games streaming to your living room; or simply alternate reality (Xi came out on March 23, coincidence?) and arcade games in Home?

5 January 2009 18:28
Ethan

I think Sony should jusgt stay with the PS3 for a while, people pay soooooooo much money for it. I think Sony doesn’t need to improve on any thing, well 1 thing, which would be the games. It would be nice to get some good 360 games like Left for Dead or Gears of War2. The PS3 would be my pick over the 2 systems. Why you ask? Because it has better graphics, its a stable system( meaning no crashes ect.) And its just amazing. If any new system within 5 years I think Sony and Microsoft should come together to make an amazing system. This is just my opinion.

27 January 2009 07:22
jus blaze

Honestly i am a sony fan but most recently, i have had second thoughts of getting a 360.why? they(sony) seem to have a limited games library, secondly games ported to the ps3 are usually inferior to the 360.(splinter cell,dead space)Even the game that should have been a sony exclusive (TEKKEN 6) is shifting base to microsoft thereby rendering sony at the bottom of the consoles food chain! Sony has just one strike which is God of war 3.
My advice for sony is to bring a patch that can intergrate blue ray software making it region free also

16 March 2009 23:52
Dave B

Something I dont think people realised when Sony said “10 year life span for the PS3″ is that this doesn’t mean another console can’t come out during this time.

A great example of this is the PS2. If memory serves, it was released just before xmas in 2000, meaning the PS2 is well into the 8th year of it’s life span, dispite the PS3 having been out almost 2 years (late march if memory serves).
Chances are, PS2 may well get the same 10 years planned for the PS3 before support is dropped.

17 March 2009 00:17
Dave B

Oh and not sure what you meant ‘jus Blaze’ by saying they should release a patch integrating Blu Ray software and making it region free, but the PS3s games are already on Blu Ray discs and making it region free would mean people may buy their games from other countries at cheaper prices, I think they’d lose out from that.
Plus making things region free was kinda along the lines Sega was thinking before their demise, look where it got them. Sony has already begun a similar path recently to what Sega did just when they started going down hill what with the losing support and all the good games moving away from them or being on other, cheaper machines too.
Dispite the fact Sony were probably the ones responsible if any one company is, for Sega’s demise (ps1 coming put when Sega really needed the sales and then PS2 being released in their final hour when Dreamcast needed support) I dont want to see Sony go the same way.

17 March 2009 22:48
NeuroticOne

The PS3 games are Region free. i think jus blaze was refering to blu-ray movies. the one issue sony has is losing consumer due to lack of exclusive games, and not publishing games that fully use the hardware, which is a shame.

24 March 2009 17:58
Mojo Baba

Even though the PS3 is a great system on the whole, it isn’t as good as the 360 when it comes to gaming. As I own both, and have had the pleasure to test the same game on both console, the 360 gives better graphics output. For example, GTA IV gives better quality on the 360 with an output of 720p, and the PS3 being unable to display the graphics at this resolution had to be scaled down to 640p. For pixel by pixel comparison, the 360 beats the PS3 in every game!!
Both manufactures will have to come up with new systems soon… as the graphics card in both systems (Xbox 360 & PS3) are now outdated. A PC with a midrange graphics card display far superior graphics than any of these consoles.

27 March 2009 14:52
Paddy

Sony have no need to make a ps4 any time soon as the graphics and game play you are experiencing here is being limited by the software NOT THE HARDWARE. this is because the cell processor is hard as hell to program and yet the games are still great. the programmers have not yet tapped into the full potential of the hardware.

28 March 2009 08:17
Fredde

The xbox 360 have only 720p but it upscaled to 1080p and the ps3 have true full-hd! suck on that 360 nerds!

2 April 2009 17:40
Jonny

lol 360s are nice, PS4 are nice. Honestly, i think the controllers of the PS3 are too old-style. The 360 controller utilizes the use of both thumbs and your hand. As with PS3, you are sitting in a less-comfortable position to play, thus giving you a less enjoyable experience in-game. This may be one of the reasons you have trouble.

5 April 2009 15:49
Stratus

Mojo Baba, GTA on the PS3 runs at 640p but so does Halo 3. In this single PS3 title the resolution may be less than 100 progressive scan intervals lower than normal but it’s commonly known that the PS3 has stronger hardware and processing power. Cell processors can handle more than a quad-based. Yes, the resolution is 640p but the far-clip bias, normals, dynamic lightning, particle effects, and more are improved (look up the technical terms yourself).Compare the weather when it is raining on both consoles.

“For pixel by pixel comparison, the 360 beats the PS3 in every game!!” I seriously doubt it, every game? Get your television checked, or maybe you don’t understand how to set up high definition on a PS3 properly. Let’s not forget that the PS3 supports the blu-ray format, which holds 5 times the data than standard Xbox360 DVDs. Developers such as Bethesda that produced Fallout 3 and Oblivion have said numerous times in interviews that they love to develop on Sony’s platform because the blu-ray discs give them more room and data space (50gb dual layer) to include extra textures, polygons, and for creating more tasks that the cell processor can handle at once. On standard 360 DVDs there is far less space (around 8gb dual layer), this constricts developers and they need to remove and reduce the quality a lot of their content.

On another note, PS3’s full HDMI nearly doubles the 360s high definition component in the amount of colors displayed and with more space for data on blu-ray discs there’s more room for higher resolution uncompressed video. The cable I use with my PS3 has a 10.2GB/s bandwidth. The fact is that many developers who want to put their games on both consoles can’t create the massive game they intended because it would simple not fit on the a 360 disc.

“For pixel by pixel comparison, the 360 beats the PS3 in every game!!”

That’s quite an absurd claim, really.