PlayStation 3 cost Sony a fortune to R&D and manufacture and the company's PlayStation division is finally profitable again. And while there's plenty of life left in the PS3, the march of ever-advancing technology continues. It shouldn't come as a surprise that another console is already being worked on, but Sony made it official today.
While speaking on the earnings call, Sony CFO Masaru Kato explained an increase in R&D costs to investors, by noting that Sony has been working on the next console. "For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform - when we'll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that - but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there," he stated.
Sony has continually stressed its 10-year plan for PS3, but that doesn't mean they won't release a new console in the next few years. While Nintendo is about to unveil its Wii successor at E3, there's no word from Sony or Microsoft on when they will advance the cycle. This console cycle is expected to be much longer than most as costs have escalated tremendously and the platform holders and software companies have had a harder time recouping costs.
[Thanks to Eurogamer]
