The focus of Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation remains on home consoles, according to co-CEO Hideaki Nishino.
During an interview with Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment co-CEO Hideaki Nishino was asked about predictions regarding future home consoles being on the cloud instead of hardware, and about his perspective on the possibility of such structural changes for PlayStation. In his response, Nishino stated that, as of today, many users are playing PS4 games, and the number of PS5 games is also increasing. He doesn’t expect things to suddenly change on that front anytime soon, and he believes home consoles will definitely be the core of the company’s business for a while.
However , Nishino mentioned that different ways of playing, such as PC, are also increasing. Therefore, Sony Interactive Entertainment is in the process of figuring out how to increase the overall number of PlayStation users, including PlayStation Network users. He pointed towards the possibility of cloud gaming with PS Portal running PS5 games, and how that may lead to the misconception that gaming has already entered the cloud era. However, he explained that users still need a controller and a display at hand, and, therefore, he doesn’t believe that hardware will disappear anytime soon.
As for the length of the PS5’s lifecycle, Nishino believes that the console will be around for a long time, just like the PS4. However, he doesn’t think it’s right to delay the release of the company’s next console that incorporates new technology because of this. The timing of introducing new hardware is related to the timeline of technological evolution and the timeline for Sony Interactive Entertainment to implement it.
On the next-generation PlayStation home console being in the works and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s direction moving forward, the co-CEO said that he believes that products are released with a balance of technology, price, and timing. As such, the company is always considering when it will hit the spot it feels is right.
