Harai wanted devs at the ”very beginning” to be involved with hardware conception. Sony have been ”undergoing many activities” on ‘future console’.
”When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Harai became the president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, ‘get World Wide Studios in on hardware development’,” Yoshida-san told Develop in an interview. The PS3 was criticized for being hard to get into dev wise.
”So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us,” he said, referring to game devs.
Will this affect the design of the PlayStation 4? “Yes, we are undergoing many activities that we haven’t yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities,” teased the Sony Worldwide Studios boss. Don’t expect it anytime soon though.
Is a marriage between hardware and software developers the best way forward for the future development of home consoles? It sure looks a smart move to make. It would hopefully mean more third-parties jumping in earlier with a new PlayStation.
