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Sony CEO Jim Ryan has talked up the importance of gaming consoles in today’s market.
The Sony boss spoke during a recent investor relations Q&A (via ResetEra), where he suggest gaming consoles actually have a smaller role in the gaming industry as it stands today. Ryan was asked about the importance of Sony’s console hardware business, to which he said the console market is “not a major market.”
“If you look at the game industry as a whole, the console market is not a major market, rather it’s a niche market, if you will,” Ryan said. “But for core gamers, immersive experiences are something we would like to value.”
He added, “In this respect, for the time being, the console as something that brings about computing functionality to the users is very important, but on the other hand, technology will progress, and so as I said today, the Remote Play and PlayStation Now, the streaming services will be worked on in parallel, that is what we are doing at this moment.”
Sony is working on what is probably the PlayStation 5, their next home gaming console, however details are scant. It could use more cloud-based technologies, as Sony Japan recently announced a partnership with none other than Microsoft, for cloud gaming tech and artificial intelligence.