If you were concerned that consoles were dying, you may rest easy, at least for the foreseeable future. PlayStation co-CEO Hideaki Nishino says that, despite the bet on cloud gaming finally appearing to pay off, hardware such as consoles, controllers, and screens aren't going away anytime soon. Oh, and you'd best get used to the idea of PS5 games on the presumptive PS6; Nishino says that our current-gen systems will see support in a similar fashion to what the PS4 is getting right now, and for about as long.
Nishino made the comments in a recent Famitsu article (thanks, MP1st) and was quite upfront: "As of today, many PS4 games are being played, and the number of PS5 games is increasing rapidly. It is unlikely that this will suddenly change tomorrow, so there is no doubt that home video game consoles will remain at the centre of our business for some time."
Nishino goes on to emphasise that: "Some people may misunderstand me when I say this, but if you have cloud gaming on PS Portal and PS5 games running, [they] may think that we have already entered the era of cloud gaming. However, you still need a controller and a screen in your hand, and we believe that hardware will not disappear just yet."
We love nothing more than spicy corporate PlayStation drama, and deliciously, his comments directly contradict those of ex-Sony boss Shawn Layden, who famously and prophetically predicted the current state of the industry. At the start of December, Layden said that the proprietary console's days are numbered and will eventually become "irrelevant".