Sony's Yoshida: "It's too early to talk about the end of this gen"

The PlayStation 3 has been on the market since 2006, and with the Wii U launching in under two weeks, some would say the era of next-gen gaming is about to be ushered in. Not so, says Shuhei Yoshida president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. Despite the unusually long console generation we've already seen, Yoshida doesn't think it's time to talk about the end of this generation.

When asked by French publication Le Monde about whether Wii U signaled the start of the next generation, Yoshida responded, “Not necessarily. Since the launch of the PlayStation 3, six years ago, the graphics have evolved, resulting in titles like adventure game Uncharted 3 and Beyond by Quantic Dream. The life of consoles is also extended by services online, which continue to make a new offer cloud and new social functions. It is therefore too early to talk about the end of this generation of consoles.”

With Sony's big acquisition of cloud gaming company Gaikai, online services are likely to become more and more important on PS3 and Vita in the near future. Sony's not talking about Gaikai's integration just yet, but PS3's life certainly could be extended through cloud gaming.

That said, many believe Sony is also ramping up for a launch of new hardware by holiday 2013, with one report indicating that PS4 dev kits are already being shipped to certain developers following an important "disclosure meeting."

[Thanks VG247]