Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning has said that PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has expressed some uncertainty as to whether there will be a PlayStation 5.
Lanning made the comments on the Game Informer show (which was spotted by NeoGaf user generic_username), where he said he asked a question about the possible future console ahead of an on-stage interview between Lanning and Yoshida:
“I said, ‘well, what does the PlayStation 5 look like?’ and he said ‘you mean if.’ […] I said ‘are you willing to say that on a stage?’ and he said ‘yeah, it’s an if.’”
While it’s doubtful that Yoshida would mean that the PlayStation brand is over, the existence of a mid-generation PS4 upgrade codenamed “Neo” (still only a super strong rumor) could mean a change in the game industry. We might be having shorter console cycles and what that entirely means for the industry is hard to predict.
“It was a really interesting thing,” said Lanning, “and he didn’t give me a clear answer, but he’s hinting at [needing] to be more agile. None of us know what the future really looks like, so how do we adapt faster? To me that’s the way he was thinking about it […] The idea that you’re going to be releasing a piece of technology that lasts seven years into the future, I think, is less and less viable.”
What do you think this means for the industry? Do you want the console cycles to change and become smaller? It has benefits and certainly has flaws as well. We can get better hardware quicker but we, as consumers, are going to be paying a lot more money more than likely. You can check out a feature on the PS4.5 here.
