New PlayStation Chief Hints at Portable Gaming Revival

Sony’s new PlayStation chief John Kodera said he sees a future in portable gaming, departing from his predecessor’s view that there’s a limited market for handheld games, according to Bloomberg.

Kodera, who replaced Andrew House as the head of the games division in October, said portable gaming should be seen as an important part of the PlayStation ecosystem, adding that Sony is carrying out various experiments in the field. He hinted that the next console may be closely integrated with portable devices, but said it’s “not yet the right stage to discuss specific hardware plans.“

“In my opinion, rather than separating portable gaming from consoles, it’s necessary to continue thinking of portable gaming as one method to deliver more gaming experiences and exploring what our customers want from portable,“ Kodera said at a roundtable interview in Tokyo. “We want to think about many options.“

While Sony has a handheld device, the PlayStation Vita, it hasn’t been revised or replaced since 2011. That created an opening for Nintendo to deliver a hit with the Switch, which debuted last year and has already outsold the Vita. When asked about the success of the hybrid tablet-console, House said in September that Sony would pursue “a different approach and strategy“ because he didn’t see a market opportunity for portable gaming platforms.

The other key question for PlayStation business is the timing of a successor to the PlayStation 4, which is now five years old. Kodera declined to provide a timeline or specifics for a new console, saying only that a new device is being designed around making it easy for developers to create games and also with an eye on easier hardware manufacturing. “We’ll be leveraging the knowledge and experience of having built four generations of consoles,“ Kodera said.