Kaz Hirai denies PS4 announcement at E3 2012

By Robert Purchese Published 11 January, 2012

"We are not making any announcements."

Sony will not announce PlayStation 4 this summer at E3 2012.

Denial comes from the top: Kaz Hirai - overseer of the consumer half of Sony's business (including PlayStation).

"Andy [House - PlayStation boss] is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3," Hirai told the Wall Street Journal.

"I've always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that."

UK trade publication MCV began the rumour that PlayStation 4 would be at E3 2012 last week. The website publicly backed its anonymous tipster on Twitter.

Journey back to E3 2006, and Eurogamer's highlights of Sony's conference.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 4 months ago

    They were only going to deny it, if they are they will want it to be a big surprise on the day to catch there rivals off guard, but i will genuinley be surprised if they did announce it, same for MS.

    They've both just had the best selling years for there respective consoles, surely it would be crazy to cut them down now by announcing a replacement.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #2 4 months ago

    A full denial rather than a 'no comment' is unexpectedly strong.

    I've always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.

    So now Kaz is misinterpreting his own comment about the time between PS3 and its successor? Or is that just a misdirection?

    In any way, it would be very bad form to outright lie about such things. Mind you, twin 1080p HDMI output, and all that...

  • Porko_Rossi #3 4 months ago

    It's a bit like a "who can hold their breath the longest" competition, while politely insisting the other company dives in first.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #4 4 months ago

    i will genuinley be surprised if they did announce it, same for MS.

    MS lead over Sony is being slowly eroded, and I reckon they'd really love to get one over on Nintendo, the way they did with Sony this generation. An E3 showreel this year would be using the tactics Sony used on Sega at the time of launch of Dreamcast, and lead up to the launch of PS2.

    Consensus seems to be that room is opening up for new home consoles (Battlefield 3 and Skyrim are this generation's Doom 3 and Half Life 2), after all.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 11/01/12 @ 09:39

  • arcam #5 4 months ago

    Even Sony offer the "10-year life cycle" as evidence of no PS4? This getting annoying. The PS3's life cycle isn't ended by the release of a PS4, and Hirai obviously knows that.

    I think this just means: "We don't want to talk about it. PS3 is the focus."

    I still expect to hear about PS4 at E3, unless Sony can somehow convince MS to also wait another year.

  • Zombie-Hamster #6 4 months ago

    I hope they don't announce anything myself, same for MS. I don't want new consoles as I don't think the PS3 and 360 have done everything they can yet, there's still plenty to look forward to.

    My preference would be for them to make better use of the likes of Move and Kinect, and for Sony to spend some time making the most of the Vita, especially in how it links to the PS3.

  • Beano #7 4 months ago

    "I've always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that."

    That's a so called non-denial denial since 10-year life cycle says nothing about the time between products. Both PS1 and PS2 had a 10+ year life cycle.

  • Markusdragon #8 4 months ago

    Move on, nothing to see here. There is definitely no PS4. Certainly not. Please continue buying our PS3s, which are certainly not going to be 'old technology' in a mere 18 months time. Certainly not.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #9 4 months ago

    18 months?

    The technology is old as fuck now.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #10 4 months ago

    I reckon MS will definitely announce a new console at E3. They need to as well imo, we're definitely in need of something more powerful. I think thats why the PC gaming market is picking up again because the consoles can't cope with it anymore.

  • FladgeMangle #11 4 months ago

    While you're obviously enjoying re-posting the E3 2006 "highlights" at every opportunity Rob, why not give us a treat and link to some of Eurogamer's fawning and gushing from E3 2005 for the sake of balance?

    Is there no editorial jurisdiction on this site? Is appears to be policy to allow such obvious bias from certain individuals to persist indefinitely and without moderation.

  • PlugMonkey #12 4 months ago

    Instead of news stories announcing announcements, we now have news stories announcing the absence of announcements?

    It's far too early on a Wednesday morning to be going this post modern.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 4 months ago

    Don't care, I'm more interested in the Wii U at the moment anyway because that console at least is not 2 years away from being released. It's inevitable that both MS and Sony are working on new consoles - they don't need to show any prototypes at E3 to tell the world that there will be successors, we all know that. I'd rather take a solid announcement next year than promises to top the competition which they are unable to keep (see dual hdmi output etc.).

    Besides, I'm more interested in the games rather than the actual console so a few tech demos will hardly impress me.

  • jarek98 #14 4 months ago

    There is another posibility - they will not announce PS4, but "PSThree" - yet another major PS3 revision...

  • Lexx87 #15 4 months ago

    Seems like a good time to remind you all on the promises made for the PS3..

    www.misinformer.com/archive/2001/01/15/
    Edited by Lexx87 at 11/01/12 @ 10:18

  • arcam #16 4 months ago

    @Lexx87 Ahh-so! You a super-rucky rucky man, you! We only senda one Praystation 3 to America fora sneek preview, and you at ign.com win rottery! Congraturatons!

    I stopped reading there.

  • milkywayer #17 4 months ago

    @Zombie-Hamster I really don't want to use my PS3 anymore. PCs have improved a lot during the last 4,5 years but i really like playign on consoles - just wish they could render as good as modern day PCs. PS3 with its 256mb ram and almost same 512/256mb for 360 is ancient by current day standards. My phone has double that ram. The higher he specs the better visual quality the games.

  • MDJRUK68 #18 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:35:41 22-05-2012

  • sfp_noodle #19 4 months ago

    Wasn't gonna happen. Sony wouldn't be releasing so many top quality new IPs if it was planning on slowing down. MS on the other hand definitely have something up their sleeves.

    All MS' exclusive titles this year are Kinect focussed. The only big core title is Halo 4, but considering there has been nothing in terms of concrete info or even gameplay footage released for a title seemingly 8 months away, I highly doubt it will be released on the 360. A lot more noise would be made if it debuted on the Nextbox as a day 1 launch title. I expect to see it at E3. On the Nextbox.

  • Toothball #20 4 months ago

    Sony are denying a lot of things this week, so they must be even more true than before.

  • andijames #21 4 months ago

    The little kid in me (not literally, obviously) wants new shiny hardware to play with but the old man in me is scared to death on how much the sodding thing will cost.

    Personally i think they will announce something this year for release mid to end of 2013. That will make the 360 8 years old and the PS3 around 7 which is a hell of a gap in between hardware cycles.

    Now 1080P is pretty much a standard and other standards have stabilised (blu-ray as media, HDMI 1.4 with ethernet) it would be an ideal time to release a console that's competitively priced yet powerful enough to last for a few years to come.

  • sfp_noodle #22 4 months ago

    @Lexx87

    That was painful to read. I stopped after the first couple of sentences. Plus it's made even more stupid by the fact that the article was written when the PS2 had just been released.
    Edited by sfp_noodle at 11/01/12 @ 10:32

  • sfp_noodle #23 4 months ago

    @Toothball

    Possibly, but normally when there is some truth to rumours Sony usually give their "we don't comment on rumours or speculation" line. This is a flat-out denial which is rare so I think it's fairly reliable. Plus with the PS3 finally becoming profitable for Sony and a new console launch already planned in the Vita, there's no way they'd want to split their consumer base in 3 seperate ways.

  • Retro_ #24 4 months ago

    I personally don't believe that PS4 won't be announced this year. It makes perfect sense. Whether it'll be announced at E3 or the week before or the week after is a moot point, it will be announced. Also, Sony are masters at suspense and intrigue so this flat out denial is just a smoke screen al la the Twisted Metal flat denial.
    Edited by Retro_ at 11/01/12 @ 10:40

  • Lexx87 #25 4 months ago

    @sfp_noodle

    ...

    It's a joke :p It's meant to be stupid!

    You lot have lost your sense of humour somewhere. The article is the most stupid thing ever written, that was the joke. I shouldn't need to explain it.
    Edited by Lexx87 at 11/01/12 @ 10:44

  • Alexwise #26 4 months ago

    @TheEarlOfZinger, maybe even older! lol

  • Porko_Rossi #27 4 months ago

    @sfp_noodle Word on the street is bungie definitely have a Next box development kit.

  • Retro_ #28 4 months ago

    As for Vita (Wireless N) to PS3 (Wireless G), well, Vita to PS4 (both N wireless) will be faster, offer less compression and less input lag so bring it on Sony.

  • sfp_noodle #29 4 months ago

    @Porko_Rossi

    Bungie isn't making Halo 4 though :p

  • sfp_noodle #30 4 months ago

    @Lexx87

    Nah I could see that it was meant to be stupid, but stupid doesn't always equal funny. And that really wasn't funny. It seemed to be taking the piss more out of Japanese people than a hypothetical PS3 in 2001.

  • Porko_Rossi #31 4 months ago

    @sfp_noodle Ah sorry ! Maybe bungie is working on something else then, they definitely have a next box dev kit though.

  • TechnicPuppet #32 4 months ago

    Sony need to do something with the PS3 falling further behind the 360 despite all the exclusives and a price cut. How long can they be happy being 3rd?

  • deded #33 4 months ago

    Here's the WSJ :

    'Hirai, who appointed House for the job, said they are not talking about a new home console now and that they don’t plan to do so at E3.

    “Andy (House) is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3,” Hirai said. “I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”' (My bold)

    Well you might not plan to do something but you can easily change your mind. Also, Twisted Metal? They could also end their E3 showing with a big screen showing 'PS4' and nothing else, confirming it's coming but it would hardly class as an official announcement. Or Jack Tretton could give a little smile and a nod and whisper 'It's coming!'. An announcement?

    Let's not forget BTW that the announcement is not the same as a launch.

    Chances are any announcement from MS or Sony this year would result in a late 2013 launch for their new system. If Sony really want to spoil Microsoft's party they could go for a TGS 2012 or E3 2013 announcement and still launch 2013. It seems unlikely as there would probably be plenty of leaks between now and then, but it could potentially pull the rug out from Microsoft. It could also leave the PS3 selling quite happily without offering Microsoft the 12 month advantage they had last time.

    Or Sony could plan for a decent launch with decent launch titles which - 12 month advantage to 360 aside - is really where they fell down on PS3.

  • Subdominator #34 4 months ago

    Nothing a company says means anything. They can deny it now and present it at E3. They could say they have something at E3 and don't show it then. Both happened before. In the end we only know for sure when it happens.

    What do you expect, of course no company wants to spill the beans before it needs to. Announcing a new console generation early can destroy your current gen sales. So even if the consoles appear at E3 (and really, they have to, I consider myself a hardcore gamer but never had an affiliation with Nintendo, quite the opposite in fact, but if they don't show the next Xbox and the next PS I'm going to switch to Wii U for sure. Or quit console gaming for good and go back to the PC) they wouldn't talk about it now.

    Just look at the signs. Look how many studios Microsoft started over the last year. Look how they shipped around PGR 5 in November 2010 to various developers. Look how Ryse went from current gen title to next gen (according to a former developer). Look how many developers are talking about next gen devkits. Those things exist and they will be at E3. But they won't admit it before because it can hurt their sales. The time between the announcement and the release will be very short, don't be surprised if Microsoft announces a new Xbox at E3 and releases it four months later. It's what they did with 360. The same thing with the Slim (well, that were actually just five days between announcement and release).

    Companies lie to your face all the time, get over it. They need to do so to protect their business. I mean what else can Kaz say? If he admits it the competition acts accordingly and destroys their E3 presentation. The less you say before E3 the less information your competition has.

    And to all saying we don't need a new generation just yet (which are mostly just casual gamers who only recently bought a PS360) let me tell you this: Every year that passes before the next generation we are one step closer to the next gen being a digital distribution only console.

  • Subdominator #35 4 months ago

    @Porko_Rossi Bungie works for Activision now. Supposedly on a MMOFPS set in the future.

  • Stuz359 #36 4 months ago

    I just can't see it. Both the PS3 and 360 have just had their best ever year for sales, devs have a good grip on the technology and it could be argued we have just had one of our best ever years for new games. To shoot yourself in the foot by announcing new consoles this year would be a monumental mistake.

    I understand Nintendo doing it, I think their game designers had done pretty much all they could with the power the Wii could offer and it really is time to move on, but with the current generation of consoles I think there is plenty of scope to explore, maybe not technologically but in terms of game design definitely.

  • Subdominator #37 4 months ago

    @andijames 1080p is far from being a standard. Yes, if you buy a TV now it will be capable of 1080p. But they've sold millions over millions in the past ten years that are only 720p. And those screens won't be replaced anytime soon. That's why 720p will be the defacto standard for the next gen, all the UIs will be designed for 720p because that's the only way to guarantee it works everywhere. And just like this gen developers chose to go sub-HD and use the processing power for more details developers will go sub-1080p to have more details. But chances are they won't go sub-720p. So 720p really will be the standard for next gen. And of course 60 fps is not gonna happen. A game running at 60 fps looks much worse than a game running at 30 fps. I still hear all the complaining about Rage. Which is funny, because if a game runs in 30 fps everybody complains that it doesn't run inn 60, if it runs in 60 fps everybody complains that it's not as beautiful as if it ran at 30. This won't change next gen.

  • jabberwoky #38 4 months ago

    Actually it might make a lot of sense for Sony to wait till the year after, because they will be able to take a good look at MS offering first, see what they are up against/tailor the PS4 accordingly.

  • coolbritannia #39 4 months ago

    PS4 at E3: confirmed!

  • Okamiwolf #40 4 months ago

    Just as long as it's not $599 US dollars.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #41 4 months ago

    If Sony really want to spoil Microsoft's party they could go for a TGS 2012 or E3 2013

    Actually, it would make plenty of sense for Sony to skip E3 this year. They are probably cautions of the accusations levelled at them after e3 2005, and are meybe content to let MS show their hand fully, and take on the task of trying to spoil Wii U's launch by themselves, before trying the same game of one-upmanship 6 or 12 months down the line.

  • andijames #42 4 months ago

    @Subdominator I agree with your reasoning that the de-facto standard these days is 720P but for a console that would becoming out in a minimum of 2 years wouldn't it be fair to presume they would target 1080P as a reference? After all the PS3 is 6 years old and they originally targeted this as standard (optimistically admittedly). Not forgetting that the next console will be targeted to last, again, at least 5-6 years. The 60fps won't happen though i agree completely with that. Bit of a pipe dream that one :)

  • Porko_Rossi #43 4 months ago

    @Subdominator Ah right didnt know about activision. I heard the dev kits for next box are available but they cost a fortune. But that's just from one trusted source.

  • pr0ev0lution #44 4 months ago

    oh goody.... that means sony will have there conference last, see what microsoft do, see whats in the wii u a year on then throw something together over night :D..... 2006 conference here we come :D

  • pr0ev0lution #45 4 months ago

    oh goody.... that means sony will have there conference last, see what microsoft do, see whats in the wii u a year on then throw something together over night :D..... 2006 conference here we come :D

  • ATNR1 #46 4 months ago

    This makes perfect sense to me. It doesn't look like the Wii U is going to be that much of a technical leap over current Generation Consoles. In fact its more like they just joining the current Generation now. Because of this MS and Sony are sitting pretty in extending their current gen life cycles. Their consoles will be cheaper, have an huge fan base, more games and an established online network whereas Nintendo's console well will have nothing of that. I know we all want better more powerful consoles, but right now this makes more business sense to me. Sales are up, and both companies are doing well. So why bring out a new console? Keep the public focused on your current product while it is doing well.

    It all depends on how the market plays out from now on. Sales go down, announce your new console. Sales stay great, keep going.

  • Darren #47 4 months ago

    Although I admit I'm not hugely excited about the next-gen systems particularly, I do feel a pang of disappointment every time Microsoft or Sony deny that they're unveiling their new systems any time this year. Console games development directly affects PC games too (since most of its games are multiformat) so I'd like the new systems to come out so that PC games can finally start making full use of the hardware instead of being still stuck in the Windows XP dual-core DirectX 9 era.

    I still think it is very likely that both Sony and Microsoft will release their new machines sometime next year but perhaps both are happy to leave the official announcements as late as possible to give people a better idea of their specs and show actual games. The last thing Sony needs is another embarassing E3 like 2005 when they showed that ridiculous controller, exaggerated the PS3's specs (two HDMI and six USB ports!) and ran those pre-rendered video mock ups of what the games would look like but actually didn't! Even EG fell for that one. ;)
    Edited by Darren at 11/01/12 @ 11:38

  • Velios #48 4 months ago

    So they will make the same mistake AGAIN and let Microsoft steal a huge lead on them by releasing their kit second (and probably inferior)

  • Darren #49 4 months ago

    Nah, I suspect both Sony and Microsoft could announce their new machines at E3 if they wanted to but may have decided to see who will announce first while leaving the unveiling as late as possible to ensure accurate information on their specs and actual game footage.

    The earliest we'll see either in the shops is next year anyway so there's nothing to be gained by announcing them too early. Most knowledgeable gamers are already aware they're coming, they just don't know when. Besides, announcing them too early would likely have an adverse affect on current console sales, which are still selling well anyway. The news would be widely reported in the media and on TV to the masses, not just be restricted to specialist sites like EG.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #50 4 months ago

    @Alexwise

    I don't mind tbh, seeing as mine has just shit the bed / ylod and I need to buy another.

    Hold off Sony!

  • TheDareDevil #51 4 months ago

    No one wants the PS4 anyways -______-

  • des #52 4 months ago

    yeah,PSN was down for regular maintenance too

  • weebl #53 4 months ago

    @Subdominator You can always target 1080p as the standard and downscale the video to 720p you know. The PS3 didn't "target" 480p or 576i yet it supports those resolutions.

  • Rex0n #54 4 months ago

    Havent heard anything from Microsoft yet...Looks like Xbox got another advantage this year too :)

  • davisorle #55 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 15:13:21 09-05-2012

  • Subdominator #56 4 months ago

    See how it all falls together?

    Hirai says no PS4 at E3. And then

    Consumer technology giant Sony aims to give its next-generation gaming console an up to 10 year shelf-life, according to the CTO of its Computer Entertainment division, Maasaki Tsuruta, speaking exclusively to E&T. This is significantly longer than the market has seen historically, although the PlayStation 3 will be at least seven-years-old by the time its successor appears.

    The target longevity of the ‘PlayStation 4’ (it will not be called that) is a simple question of economics - primarily the inflationary economics of electronics system design, believes Tsuruta.

    So there you have it, Sony won't announce the PS4 at E3 because it's gonna get a fancy name like Vita.

  • JayKwon #57 4 months ago

    I play quite a few more pc games these days because I can play them on the highest settings, but even after I played Witcher 2, Batman, DiRT 3 or Battlefield 3 on highest settings, although they look beautiful and a lot better than their console iterations, I don't think it justifies starting a new console cycle already. In (max) two years time it would be perfect! I'm still amazed by games such as Dark Souls, Deus Ex, Rayman: Origins and Portal 2 which I prefer playing on the console.

    Let me wait somewhat longer and become really eager for the new consoles. Let the gap between this gen and next gen become really big.

  • arcam #58 4 months ago

    @JayKwon People said exactly the same thing before the release of this generation of consoles.

  • Darren #59 4 months ago

    @JAGUARCD32x - I reckon we'll see something along the lines of:

    4 GB of shared system/graphics memory
    A GPU of approx. spec to the AMD RADEON HD4870 or NVIDIA GTX 285 spec with DX11 features such as tessellation. 1080p will be supported natively for all games though most will run at 30 fps (still!)
    7.1 audio support
    A quad-core CPU with 8-threads running at 3.6 GHz (doubt it'll be a hex-core CPU due to the heat and power requirements)
    A 4X or 8X Blu-ray drive
    500 GB SATA-III hard drive as standard (I can't see any next-gen console lacking a hard drive this time round)
    802.11b/n Wi-Fi as standard with the usual ethernet connections
    At least four USB 3.0 ports etc. etc.

    Nothing really exciting by current PC standards but because games can be better optimized for console hardware, the games will likely look very impressive for the first 18 months or so before the PC once again takes the lead.
    Edited by Darren at 11/01/12 @ 14:27

  • Darren #60 4 months ago

    @Subdominator - Sounds plausible I suppose.

    PlayStation 4 is a pretty safe bet though going by the previous system names and anyone interested in games would know exactly what it is, i.e. the successor to the PlayStation 3. I reckon they'll stick with PS4 myself unless they're aiming to totally reinvent the brand with a fresh image, fresh name and... gasp... fresh controller!

    I wonder what the next Xbox will be called though. Microsoft can't call it the Xbox 3, Xbox 720 sounds silly (based on the reasons for the Xbox 360's name) so that is perhaps the most interesting thing about the next-gen for me. :)
    Edited by Darren at 11/01/12 @ 14:26

  • Obli #61 4 months ago

    1) Sony are ready to counteract MS. I think with Sony catching up sales-wise, they're happy to wait for MS to make their move first. I doubt Sony will allow another year headstart.

    2) PS3 life-cycle of ten years has nothing to do with the next Playstation - that is mis-direction, which makes me feel he's trying to hide something in that statement.

    3) The next Sony console might not be called PS4, but Playstation Postremo or whatever. If that gets announced at E3 2012, Kaz and House were not lying.

  • DAN.E.B #62 4 months ago

    "Kaz and House were not lying"

    Well not yet anyway.

  • MeBrains #63 4 months ago

    YES! best news of the day!!!!


    yesterday that is then...