Sony Probably Going To Do PlayStation 4

Nomura Securities' Yuta Sakurai has been quoted as saying that 'he cannot imagine a PlayStation 4' because of Kaz Hirai's promotion. He sees it as a move (eventually) towards Sega-like software focus. Sony has, of course, immediately denied this because ... they (understandably) like money. From the article: "Following the launch of the PlayStation 3 just a few weeks ago, and witnessing the huge consumer demand for the product, I think it would be rather short-sighted for anyone to predict there might not be a next generation of PlayStation product."

Comments

BREAKING NEWS

[C0rinthian]

Console Manufacturer plans to develop, release console.

In other news, Microsoft hopes to sell software in the future.

Why wouldn't they?

[Quiet_Desperation]

The PS3 in the long run will probably turn out to be OK. You learn from your errors and move on. Why does every decision have to be Draconian these days?

Besides, the promised us the nano-dust based PS9 in that commercial.

Re:Why wouldn't they?

[Rycross]

I think the key with PS2 was that they ramped into it. Backwards compatibility was key to this, since Playstation was still being supported a good while after the PS2 came out thanks to it. So if you're an early adopter, you get your DVD player and next-gen games. Otherwise, your old Playstation still has games (albeit less than before) comming out for it, and when you finally can afford a PS2, all those games you bought work on it.

Thats why I don't think price is as much of an issue as people think. Yeah, its expensive (and I don't think I want to pay $500 for it right now, we'll see in a couple months when its actually available), but my PS2 probably has at least half a year in it before its hard to find new games for it, and even then I can get discount games. It can last me until the PS3 price drops.

And brand is a really strong factor. The Nintendo empire wasn't destroyed in a day. The real key to Playstation dominence was that they expanded the market, like Nintendo is trying to do right now.

Shareholder Report Card

[eldavojohn]

So after keeping up with Sony news on Slashdot, I've learned that on launch they shipped around 150k PS3s and they sold out. I also learned that they lose something like $200-300 per console.

So I guess I figure that they lost around $37 million dollars on that day. So I would imagine that this will look pretty bad on their shareholder report card when their fourth quarter profits for 2006 come out.

Now, they'll make more than that in the future licensing the games. But I doubt they'll make that back before Christmas. So I would suggest holding off on PS4 speculation until the holiday season is over, all the facts are in and the shareholders tell the games division of Sony what to do. In the end, it's not Kaz Hirai or Yuta Sakurai that determine whether or not a PS4 happens, it's the reaction by Wallstreet and the people holding the shares.

It won't be called PS4

[DrXym]

4 is an unlucky number in some Asian countries.

Re:It won't be called PS4

[Hatta]

In Japanese at least, the on yomi (shi) of the number four is a homonym for death. Probably not the sort of feeling they would want to convey for a new console's launch.

I don't know about you, but I'd buy a console called the DeathStation.

Re:It won't be called PS4

[Mr. Hankey]

Perhaps, but the connotation is a bit different in Japanese. It would be more Sony like calling it the MiseryStation here. I'm sure they'll have something, and it'll probably be a PlayStation brand, but they'll likely come up with another way to name it. Maybe PSNext or something to that effect.

Re:Oh really?

[HappySqurriel]

No shit sherlock. The PS3 would pretty much have to not sell any units before ruling out the PS4 would seem plausible.

Well, yes and no ...

Sony's strategy for making money off of a videogame system is drastically different from Nintendo's strategy. Sony makes money because a lot of third parties sell a ton of games on their systems and Sony gets their licencing fee (cut) out of it; Nintendo on the other hand tends to be the number one developer on their own systems by a large margin so they profit through the sales of their own games. For Sony to be really profitable they need to have a very large chunk of the market share so that third party developers have no choice but to develop every game for the Playstation; if they lost enough marketshare that developers were focusing on another platform they would probably be better off leaving the hardware market.

Personally, I don't know the numbers that would require Sony to leave the console market but I suspect if they sold in the Gamecube/XBox range with the PS3 the PS4 might not happen.

Re:PS4: The one with...

[Lord Kano]

Considering the cost of a PS3 on eBay, the PS4 better come with a vagina.

LK

I can't wait for the PlayStation 10!

[GreggBz]

Well, it takes normally 3 crappy consoles to kill a gaming juggernaut. The last one is usually a desperate effort harnessing some completely obtuse miracles of complex technology.

See: Atari 7600, Lynx, Jaguar
See: CD32, Saturn, Dreamcast
See: Amiga 500, 3000, 4000T

With Sony, since they are so diversified, it would probably take at least 7 crappy consoles before the games division tanks.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that the PlayStation X should be friggin spectacular.