But PS3, Vita and Move games will remain the major focus for years
Preliminary work on PlayStation 4 games has begun at several internal Sony studios, Develop understands.
A trusted source connected to the matter has told Develop that various game projects are at very early stages, though didn’t reveal which of Sony’s sixteen first-party studios had been delegated the work.
Few in the games business expect a new PlayStation to launch before 2014 – the next few Christmases will likely see Sony marketing software for PS3, Move and its new Vita handheld.
A Sony spokesperson has declined to comment.
The discovery comes as rival platform holder Microsoft continues work on its next-generation system. Develop has published data from various sources that points to a Christmas 2013 release for the so-called ‘Xbox Next’.
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It is a company convention at Sony to remain constantly engaged in R&D work on future platforms – in fact PS Vita development began soon after the release of the PSP in 2005. But Develop has been told that several SCE studios now have teams working on PS4 game concepts that could jump into full production if given the green light.
Many developers believe PlayStation 3, which first launched five years ago and has gone on to sell more than fifty million units, remains a high-end machine.
In a new interview with Develop, Epic president Mike Capps said it would be a “very tall order” to build commercial hardware that is a generational leap forward.
“I mean, PS3 is still very bad-ass,” he said.
What is clear is that Sony is some distance from finalising the technology behind its next generation console, and any early input from internal game studios will be a relief to the development industry.
Last year, Worldwide Studios (WWS) boss Shuhei Yoshida said Sony has learnt from past mistakes and is now asking game developers to help shape future technology.
“We wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware,” he told Develop.
In February, SCE chairman Kaz Hirai said Sony was “not deliberating on PS4”.
The company has built a strategy to support consoles with new games for about ten years, and the experienced executive pointed out that PS3 has not even reached its fifth year yet.
In May, Sony's chief financial officer Masaru Kato explained to investors that "future platform" development work has caused a spike in R&D costs.
I think sony should wait a couple more years for the release of ps4 as long as they keep adding new features it ahould still stay bad ass .i love the ps3.so far best thing around ..not even xbox has come close to it.
I personally can't wait for the PS4. The PS3 can keep on going, but the PS4 can be in there also. Like the PS2 and the PS3. The PS2 is still in production. (Until the end of 2011 DX)
i think the ps2 was the best console to ever be relesed and no other console will ever be better in my opinoin
the ps3 had a good run for a while now but they should cool it.
Given that the PS1 was released in 1994, the PS2 in 2000 and the PS3 in 2006 ... we could expect a PS4 in 2012.
And as you all know, the PS3 would still be sold alongside the PS4 and could easily reach 10 years old.
NO THE PS4 THAT WELL BY RELISE IN 2013
I think Microsoft and Sony should just combine and take the good from a playstation and the good from the xbox and make ONE super-console. It would make the community alot happier and hopefully it would be free! I'm not taking sides but I wish they made a combo.
i love ps2 it had a lot of awesome games and ps3 i am not a fan of it so i like the ps2 better but yeah ps3 has also a lot of good games but not as good as DBZ bt3 or DBZ bt2 and i love to see how the ps4 is gonna look like
I think that sony schould make so that ps3 and ps4 can play together online!
I REALLY THINK THAT SONY SHOULD DEFENATILY RELEASE PS4 OUT BECAUSE IM SICK OF MY PS3.I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE THE PS4 TO COME OUT AND THEY WOULD DEFENATILY BU IT IF IT WERE £250-350
@Anonymous Are you kidding me. That is what you call merging which can lead to a monopoly. Why does sony, Microsoft, and nintendo all get together and make a "super-console"? I'll tell you why. With no competition, they will be able to charge any price they want and they could then give two shits as to what they put out into the market because we won't have other options to buy from...Competition is good. It motivates entrepreneurs and businesses to be innovative and to work for consumer's satisfaction.
Well Nintendo can team up with Playstation again.
Then let Sega do something again.
Microsoft is good on their own.
The Competition would be much more wild then.
Sega did have something when Dreamcase was out, i never got to play it but it was more advanced then Playstation One, it was the only console to have internet ATM.
Sony can do the hardware and Nintendo can do the Software.
Hey guys what i think of this i mean its amazing and all but Sony i got a question are you guys still gonna update the ps3 and psvita a lot because i heard of Xbox new copy of ps vita with steam and so on plus have wi fi on the go so here is my idea. Why not have a contract with steam and make it a app on the ps3 and ps vita so we can have are steam games like tf2 half life etc and with the wi fi. I don't mean give it free just say we need to pay for it i mean it will be better then ever i think the price should be to like 20 or lower bucks a month for wi fi. If you cant do the steam at less do the wi fi and something else. I'm a play station fan that will stay a fan forever and i hope you guys from Sony may see this and not Xbox
