PlayStation is making strides toward improving the way players interact with their content and services, with an emphasis on a new and enhanced experience. However, this transformation won’t solely hinge on cloud gaming, despite the growing popularity of the technology. In a recent investor-focused interview, Hideaki Nishino, CEO and President of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), was asked about the future of PlayStation, particularly in terms of cloud gaming. While the company has been in the cloud gaming game for over a decade, since the PS3 era, Nishino emphasized that the cloud gaming business model needs to be sustainable for long-term growth. Despite technological advancements, he believes most players will still prefer traditional, local hardware, which avoids the unpredictability of network conditions.
This suggests that the next PlayStation console will remain rooted in the traditional model, but interestingly, Nishino also hinted at new ways for players to engage with PlayStation content and services, potentially referring to an unannounced handheld console that has been rumored.
Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony Interactive Studio Business Group, discussed the company’s multiplatform strategy, highlighting their approach to extending PlayStation’s franchises to a broader audience. Specifically, the company is exploring options for single-player games-long considered PlayStation’s hallmark-on other platforms. These games showcase the console’s hardware capabilities, and Sony is thinking carefully about which titles should be released beyond PlayStation consoles. Therefore, it looks like the ongoing trend of PC ports for PlayStation-exclusive single-player games will continue for the foreseeable future. The release of such titles years after their console debut allows PlayStation to reach a wider audience. However, games that are only published by PlayStation, like Shift Up’s Stellar Blade, are seeing faster PC releases-Stellar Blade launched on PC only a year after its console debut, and Lost Soul Aside will be launching on both PC and console this August. The success of these games on PC could encourage PlayStation to focus more on the PC market moving forward.