Sony has finally learned more about its future plans for PlayStation and the possible successor to the PlayStation 4. John Kodera, CEO and President & Representative Director at Sony Interactive Entertainment, reports that Sony has the following three year will use to prepare for its next step. This was done during an interview with, among others, The Wall Street Journal. This means that people will take things a bit slower compared to the usual six-to-seven-year cycle that we are used to from Sony.
“ We will use the next step, to crouch down so that we can jump higher in the future, “says Tsuyoshi” John “Kodera, who has been on the throne of Sony since last October. Speaking to a select group of journalists, Kodera also says that the way network services change also affects how people view the introduction of new products.
“We need to look at the traditional way of looking at the new life cycle, “He said. “We’re no longer in a time when you can think of two different things.”
Kodera continues this conversation by saying very clearly that one has to get rid of the traditional life cycle of a console. He says that we no longer live in a time where you only consider the hardware or only the network as if it were two different things. According to Kodera, these are inextricably linked and the introduction of a console today is a completely different story than, say, five years ago.
He also reports that Sony is busy looking into how they can integrate mobility more within PlayStation. The PlayStation consoles are traditionally devices that are only used indoors and in this area Sony wants to innovate. Sony obviously had the PS Vita, but Kodera says that they no longer want to restrict themselves to one device. He also reports that Sony wants a broader perspective with PlayStation, hinting to a similar system as the Nintendo Switch.
“ We need a broader perspective than that because so many things are now connected via the internet, “Says John Kodera. He thus clearly indicates that they want to introduce the ‘PlayStation 5’ in about three years. What this console will only look like is still unknown and is rather vague about it. The hints of mobility and looking beyond the living room can also mean everything. Whether Sony is also going for a hybrid option such as the Nintendo Switch or whether they want to go more to Remote Play is not clear.
John Kodera has not been CEO at SIE for very long, but is already heading in a different direction than are predecessors. He is already very open about the plans for the future of the company, where in the past we heard very little about this.
