14 DAY TRIAL // Fergal Gara, the leader of the United Kingdom division of Sony, says that the company believes that the PlayStation 4 represents a brand rather than simply a box that can play video games and that the future might offer some interesting innovations for the platform.
The executive tells the Official PlayStation Magazine that, “We see PlayStation as a brand, not just as a box. Going out to 2013 and probably more appropriately 2014, 15, 16, 17 you’ll see start to see PlayStation 4 as a brand and a service, as a set of services, a set of experiences.”
Recently, a developer who works on Tekken has suggested that the PlayStation 5, a totally hypothetical idea at the moment, will be an entirely cloud-based service rather than an actual physical device.
Gara also believes that Sony can focus on a device for the time being, while exploring other interesting options linked to how it delivers content and experiences to gamers.
He adds, “For the foreseeable PlayStation 4 will be the pinnacle in terms of the highest possible experiences, the most powerful service we can offer. But we can offer many many more. The Gaikai acquisition, PlayStation Vita TV capability. There are lots of pieces here that all point to that direction really.”
When the PlayStation 4 was first revealed, Sony explained that the hardware was designed to play games, but would also allow gamers to access a variety of other content and to share it with friends via a set of dedicated tools.
Microsoft took another approach with its own Xbox One, which was promoted as more of a multimedia hub at a number of events.
The PlayStation 4 will be launched in the United States on November 15 and in Europe on November 29, while the rival console will be offered on November 22 worldwide.