Why it matters: Sony has given some scraps of information about the PlayStation 6, dropping its first hints that the console is in early stages of development. The company said the future of the platform is "top of mind," and it is exploring a "new and enhanced way for players" to engage with games.
The news comes from Sony Interactive Entertainment's new president and CEO, Hideaki Nishino, who took part in an investor-focused interview published on Sony's corporate website.
Nishino was asked a question that has been appearing with increasing regularity these days: as cloud gaming becomes increasingly advanced and more of the world gains access to faster internet connections, is future console hardware being made obsolete by cloud gaming?
Nishino said that despite cloud gaming's increasing popularity, and the fact Sony has supported it since the PlayStation 3, its physical consoles aren't going away as most people want "local execution" (local hardware) that doesn't depend on internet speed and stability. The CEO added that the PS5 and PS5 Pro have proved this is the case.
With confirmation that PlayStations aren't being replaced by cloud services, Nishino moved on to the subject of the PlayStation 6 and whether the next-gen machine was currently in development.
"Our console business has evolved into a multi-faceted platform, and we now have a large ecosystem of highly engaged players across both the PS5 and the PS4 generations. So naturally, therefore, there is a huge interest in our next-generation console strategy," he said.
"While we cannot share further details at this stage, the future of the platform is top of mind. We are committed to exploring a new and enhanced way for players to engage with our content and our services."
Nishino is obviously playing his cards close to his chest here. We've already seen plenty of reports pointing to the PlayStation 6 being in early development, but this is the most the Sony chief has spoken about it publicly. Given that Sony stated development of the PS5 almost as soon as the PS4 launched in November 2013, it's likely been working on the PS6 for many years.
You might remember that AMD was said to be hiring for PS6 and next-gen-console chip development as early as 2022 – Intel had tried but failed to secure the $30 billion PS6 contract that same year. There was also a report in 2024 claiming that Sony may be prepping two SoCs for the next PlayStation, one of which could be heading for a new handheld.
If Sony sticks to the same seven-year gap as it did with the PS4 and PS5 launches, the PlayStation 6 will be here in November 2027, though former veteran executive Shuhei Yoshida believes this might be too early and we could be waiting until 2028. Those dates would put it around the same time as the Witcher 4 release, suggesting CD Projekt Red's title will be one of the first next-gen optimized/enhanced games.
Image credit: Marcel Strauß