Big news if this turns out to be accurate. A report has gone up on a Japanese website which seems to state that Sony have shelved their plans for their next generation of home consoles. Following a translation offered on the Beyond3D forums we’re led to believe that the development of a new console will be deferred for a period of time so that Sony can focus on keeping the PlayStation 3 as up to date and relevant as possible.

This will probably be welcome news to developers who, as the translation points out, can barely afford more than a few high quality franchises in development on current hardware, never mind trying to upscale everything for a more advanced and powerful (we would assume) machine.

The most concise quote from the translation is possibly this one, which seems to indicate that the report shows a stunning confidence in the NGP:

Hiroshige Goto says SCEI suspended PS4 development. They were working on a PowerPC based system at IBM Rochester after the Larrabee fall out, then shelved it. They are betting the farm on PSP2 as they expect handhelds to displace consoles.

Of course, Sony haven’t officially announced their next home console yet but it is safe to assume that research and development work was well underway and this report seems to back up that assumption.

What does this mean for the future of home consoles? We’ll have to wait and see when more information comes to light. It’s conceivable that this is just one track of research being sidelined and there will be other routes in the future but for the time being, if this translation can be trusted, it seems that Sony might be tuning the PlayStation 3 and putting their faith in their handhelds rather than producing a PlayStation 4.

Of course, we’re trusting some rough translation for this one so we strongly advise a healthy pinch of salt. This might all stem from a stock Sony response that they know nothing of a “PS4″, which is healthy business practice. We’re trying to dig a little deeper and see what we can find out.

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/02/15/playstation-4-plans-suspended/

hmm very interesting at the very least (if true) this probably means we wont be seeing the PS4 for a couple years and also the chances of it being Cell based probably just disappeared.

I strongly doubt that.

I cant imagine this to be true, there is more money in console gaming. People dont see value in spending $50-$60 portable games. PS3 is still relatively young, so a new console is not needed, perhaps they are putting off PS4 due to PS3 sales. While I don't like Sony for a number of reasons, one less console on the market is bad for the business, so I hope this isn't true.

this, the next console is what they want in like two years.

I wouldn't trust it. This is highly sensitive comercial information. It isn't likely that it would just get leaked.

And Obama is not running from president in 2012. 

It was talked about on another forum.  It's a mistranslation.  They are just saying that they are still mostly focused on the NGP and PS3 at this point.

I don't believe that this is an accurate representation of what Sony's position is at this point in time ...

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Sony was initially targeting 2012 for the release of the PS4 and have now delayed the launch until 2013; but I simply don't believe that Sony is foolish enough to believe that they will be able to keep the PS3 alive for a significant period of time after Microsoft and Nintendo release their next generation systems.

I guess we ARE getting close to the point where next gen rumors should start spraying about....my how the time flies.