Sony is only four years into its ten-year PlayStation 3 lifespan, but it’s already doing some preliminary planning for the next console in the line. Develop reports that Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida talked frankly about the company’s new direction and future plans in a recent interview.
“When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Hirai became the new president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, ‘get Worldwide Studios in on hardware development’,” Yoshida said. “So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us [developers].” He also said they are “undergoing many activities that we haven’t yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities.”
The move was probably a smart one. Ken Kutaragi may get credit as the father of the PlayStation, but he also took the blame for the PlayStation 3’s lackluster launch. Hirai’s differing philosophy means we’ll see a very different kind of launch for the PlayStation 4 or even PlayStation Portable 2, whenever they happen to come.
