Gaikai's David Perry intends to push for core-focused console within Sony
"It's just got to make the most badass games possible."
Gaikai chief David Perry intends to push for a core-focused console within Sony, he has revealed.
Perry recently sold cloud gaming company Gaikai to Sony Computer Entertainment for a whopping $380 million, and this is now an employee of the PlayStation maker.
During Perry's Earthworm Jim session at the Develop conference in Brighton this morning, Perry was asked whether the next generation of consoles will be the last. He responded by saying consoles will soon no longer be called consoles.
"I've been saying for a long time - and this is not my opinion post-Sony, this is my opinion period - is I don't think the consoles are going to be called consoles any more," he said.
"There have been little signs of it coming. You probably saw in the last generation of advertising, Sony's was, 'it only does everything,' they're turning into media hubs. You can see Microsoft has been doing the same. They did a deal with Comcast to put Comcast content and Netflix and everything else, and they're very proud of the fact. And you saw at E3 their big presentation talked a lot about other stuff.
"So, ultimately consoles are making a play for the living room and their competition is becoming Tivo and all the other media hubs - everything that's trying to plug into a TV."
Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson, who chaired the session, countered this by saying hardcore gamers just want a games console that plays really great games, and aren't interested in the wider entertainment functions.
"I now work for Sony," Perry replied. "I can tell you my take on it is I much prefer to focus on gaming. You need to hit it out of the park on gaming. If it does other stuff that's cool. But the core is what it's all about.
"So my focus would be, it's just got to make the most badass games possible. That's certainly what my push will be inside the company.
"If it does other things I get it. That's cool. But it's not the core of the device."
Sony is rumoured to be preparing to launch the PlayStation 4 late 2013, with an announcement expected some time next year.