The PlayStation 4 may be outpacing the PlayStation 2 when it comes to units sold, but with the regular updates to smartphones and tablets changing mindsets, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe President Jim Ryan doesn’t think the PS4 – or any other console – will repeat the same 13-year lifecycle.
In an E3 2017 interview with EDGE that was published in their September 2017 issue (via WCCFTech), Ryan was asked if there might be further PS4 Pro/Xbox One X-type hardware refreshes this console generation. He replied:
It’s a very interesting question. The cultural phenomenon of regular updates to smartphones and tablets is without question, perhaps subliminally, coloring mindsets. And the days of a 13-year PlayStation 2 cycle will almost certainly never repeat themselves. But equally, a platform is a very delicate ecosystem, and if that platform is to succeed, you’ve got to give those who make content for it the chance to recoup on it. At the end of the day, like it or not, these are businesses.
We struck – and Microsoft has as well – a good balance of innovation within the confines of the platform. Also, services which operate agnostically of particular hardware, like PlayStation Now for example, are something you’re going to see more of. I think we’re only six months into PlayStation 4 Pro, and it’s too early to tell. The Xbox One X hasn’t launched yet. I don’t know if this is the way forward or not.
Back in 2016, Shuhei Yoshida said the PS4’s lifecycle wouldn’t be shortened by the PS4 Pro. Back in 2014, Andrew House said that he hopes the PS4’s lifecycle is longer than the PS3’s, but he wasn’t sure if it would match the PS2.
Do you think we’ll see another PS4 refresh before we see the PS5?
[Source: EDGE via WCCFTech, Daniel Ahmad]
