Sony PlayStation 4 rumours met with scepticism

DigiTimes reports that Sony plans to start production on a PlayStation 4 at the end of this year, with a planned release some time in 2012. The news site, which has frequently been first to report Apple rumours that turn out to be true, said that Sony would include “body movement-based control like Kinect” in the PS4.

However, video games experts have greeted the report with scepticism.

Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry blog wrote: “The basic notion of a true next-gen PlayStation releasing within 18 months is ludicrous. PlayStation 3 has only become profitable for Sony relatively recently and the platform holder will be hoping for a substantial period of time in which to recoup the enormous losses they have incurred this console generation. In the here and now, PlayStation 3 has yet to dip below £199, where we would expect sales volumes to increase significantly. Closing this window of opportunity prematurely doesn't really make sense from any kind of commercial perspective."

Eurogamer also noted that no rumours of a PlayStation 4 had surfaced anywhere within the “notoriously indiscreet” video games industry.

Games blog 1Up.com repeated comments from Sony CEO Howard Stringer last month, in which he said: “I wouldn't look for any discussion of a next generation PlayStation for quite some time."As well as the desire to keep selling the PS3 for a bit longer, Sony also has the launch of the PlayStation Vita to deal with. The successor to the PlayStation Portable should begin going on sale late this year, with a European release expected around spring 2012. It’s unlikely that Sony would want to divert attention away from that and on to a new home console.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that DigiTimes has been a reliable source of rumours about upcoming products for some time now. As Eurogamer says, “it is difficult to readily discount anything from ‘manufacturing sources’ so quickly”. It’s worth keeping an eye on this particular rumour.