One of the platform holders is to bow out of the hardware race at E3 in June, according to an executive at cloud gaming service Gaikai.
Speaking to Industry Gamers at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Gaikai's chief product officer Nanea Reeves said: "Not all of the current console makers will have one more generation. That will be the big news at E3."
With Wii U announced and set to launch this year, Reeves - who joined Gaikai from Electronic Arts in 2010 - is clearly speaking either about Microsoft or Sony. Gaikai announced a partnership with LG earlier this week that will see HD cloud games playable on internet-connected Smart TVs without the need for a console, and Sony debunked rumours that it intends to unveil a PS3 successor at E3.
Could Sony be preparing to pull out of the race, instead offering PlayStation games through its own TV range, with Gaikai as a partner? Probably not, but Kaz Hirai, president of Sony's Consumer Products And Services division, told Bloomberg this week that the company's currently loss-making TV business was key to the company’s profitability.
Sony president Howard Stringer - who will reportedly be replaced by Hirai in April - also told Bloomberg that the company was considering creating its own entertainment content for its devices. "It's coming," he said. "It's natural." Perhaps Sony is planning on a future where it sells and controls not only the hardware, but the content that runs on it, without the need for more devices under the TV.
Alternatively, it's nonsense. We'll find out one way or the other at E3, which runs from June 5 to 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Source: Industry Gamers
Comments
3It's true, I hear Sinclair have dropped out and Oric are having second thoughts.
Why would either Sony or MS use the largest gaming stage to announce they weren't making hardware anymore?
Surely that's the kind of thing you sneak out not make a song and dance about.
I can't believe I'm even forming a response to one of the most bizarre rumours I've ever heard.
Caveat: I said several years ago I'd be surprised if the PS4 ever came out so if this pans out....called it.
It would make more financial sense for Sony to stop making TV's and keep going in the games industry. Ninty will never stop since we will never stop buying their games and systems. Microsoft... maybe. I can see them doing something which is more internet based than console based. Like a Cloud-esque device that plugs into your TV and streams gaming directly to it. But that relies on a fast internet connection and if the rest of the UK is like me and can only get 8mb up and down, tops! Then that won't cut it here. Hell, my iPlayer packs up now and then, how would it cope with HD games!?