Forget what you’ve heard before about the next Playstation not being in current development, Sony’s VP and CFO Masaru Kato has stated otherwise. When speaking to investors today, a question came to light regarding an increase in research and development costs that was prominent in Sony’s most recent financial report. Kato responded by saying:
For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there.
This contradicts the statement Sony honcho Kaz Hirai said back in February, “a near-future PS4 or next-generation home console is not something that we are even debating now.” So it’s hard to believe who’s telling the truth right now, but numbers are numbers and the R&D department has been busy lately. Either way, with E3 around the corner and big announcements to be expected, Sony must be thinking about the future and competing with upcoming systems like Nintendo’s Project Cafe.
It still seems incredibly early to be announcing any real successor to the PS3, especially when Microsoft has kept quiet on their next XBOX. But to assume that development hasn’t started yet on the potential PS4 would be foolhardy. Thinking ahead in this business is what research and development is for, to think ahead.
