Dispelling rumors that the PlayStation 4 will be unveiled during this year's E3, Sony' Kaz Hirai told the Wall Street Journal the PlayStation 3 is halfway through its lifespan, and that Sony is "not making any announcements at E3."
"I've always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that," he added.
Interestingly, Hirai didn't deny the possibility that PlayStation 4 would be released during PS3's 10 year lifespan. This might look like over-reading into his words, but it is worth noting that PlayStation 3 was released halfway through PlayStation 2's life. PlayStation 2 launched In October 2000, and it still selling strong, more than 11 years later.
In a separate report, Hirai told Bloomberg that - for the foreseeable future - new consoles (such as the PS4) must be disk based. "It's very important that we continue to have a dedicated home-based console," he explained. "Relying solely on networks to deliver content is unfortunately just not possible. It's still very difficult to have consumers download 50 gigabytes of data or more."