You have to feel for the console manufacturers as the lifecycle of you console really has very little to do with your companies plans and rather is intricately linked to what your competitors are doing.
Sony has always said they expect the PS3 to have a 10 year life cycle and it was only 4 months ago that Kaz Hirai was telling everyone that the PS4 isn’t even on the horizon at Sony yet.
Well that’s no longer the case.
Nintendo has already announced that it will show off it’s next console at E3 this year and we have had repeated rumours of the new Xbox console being shown to developers which has apparently forced Sony’s hand now as they have stepped up research into their next console as well.
The increased research was noticed by an investor who asked for more information around the increases in R&D costs during an investors conference call today.
The fact that Sony are already planning a PS4 should be no surprise and if the increase in costs was only noticed now I can only presume that they are either only just starting to look at it (not likely) or that they have started to really pump some investment into getting the specs and finer details sorted out.
But I guess the question is are they just responding to the Xbox rumours or was their plan always to ramp up the investment in 2011?
Source: Eurogamer
Last Updated: May 27, 2011
