There will be no Playstation 4. Proof inside.

Well, it's more speculation than proof. Just a catchy thread title, y'know.  
(For the record, I think there will be a PS4). 
 
But look at these and tell me there isn't some correlation going on here.  
 
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-or-microsoft-to-bow-out-of-next-gen-console-race-predicts-gaikai/ 

Cloud gaming service Gaikai has commented that one of the current console manufacturers actually won't be creating another console for the next generation.  Nanea Reeves, chief product officer for Gaikai, predicted, "Not all of the current console makers will have one more generation. That will be the big news at E3." 

Sony is enticing the entire world by announcing their plans  for this year's major industry event. First and foremost, they say they will announce "the future of gameplay and innovation," which has gotten people talking. 
 

You may well be blown away by what’s on show, but it’s doubtful you’re going to be too shocked by any of the announcements.

Apart from the partnership deal between PlayStation and a leading cloud gaming service, obviously. 

 
Gameblog.fr  (via NeoGAF ) received an invitation to a Gaikai event at the show, which reads: “Gaikai has major announcements in store for E3, which have the potential to change the future of video games, game consoles and how we play.” 

In a move that will rock the next generation of console gaming, Sony is close to agreeing an acquisition of a high profile cloud gaming firm, MCV understands.

It was reported earlier this week that Sony was to reveal a partnership with a cloud gaming firm – specifically either OnLive or Gaikai – at E3 next week.

Subsequent chatter had seemingly calmed the rumours, suggesting that the proposed agreement was to do with Sony streaming TV services, and not consoles.

However, MCV understands that the deal is far more extensive than anyone could have predicted and will see Sony fully acquire one of the two firms. The deal, our source says, “is close to being signed”.

Then what's this "Codename Orbis" everyone's talking about? And why would Sony bow out of console design now?

If someone can do cloud gaming properly count me in.

Cloud gaming service? Not interested. If this is the route Sony is going, then I don't want any part of it.

Times they are a changin'.

Then what's this "Codename Orbis" everyone's talking about? And why would Sony bow out of console design now?

No. Maybe in 15 years something like that, but not now.

Isn't gaming the only area Sony are currently profitable in? Why would they give up most of that revenue?

@Hailinel said:

Cloud gaming service? Not interested. If this is the route Sony is going, then I don't want any part of it.

I'd really need more details before I say either way. So far, cloud gaming storage has seemed like a big hassle.

@AlexW00d said:

Isn't gaming the only area Sony are currently profitable in? Why would they give up most of that revenue?

Thats what I thought too.

you're silly. of course there will be a playstation 4.

i enjoy my physical copies, thank you. you'll never take them from me!!

Something about this says CD-i v2 to me.

I'd be surprised. There are some games that just could not ever work well on a cloud gaming service. Fighting games, for example, would be unplayable with the input lag that this would create.

Fuck cloud gaming.

I hate the idea. I hate the idea of being treated like a money dispenser. I hate the idea that one day my access to the games I've been paying for won't be there anymore because a server shut down. I hate the idea that if my internet goes down, so does my gaming. I hate the whole damned thing, and if it ever becomes the norm then I'm sticking with old school stuff that I can get a hold of locally.

So, there's my opinion on cloud gaming. Sony can kiss my ass if they think I'm going to pay a single dime for it.

Now, as hateful as this post has been, I must give the remark that "we don't know nothin' yet". I might be bitching over nothing. Still, I hope this never becomes the norm, or even widespread. It's the worst thing that might ever happen to gaming as far as I'm concerned. I'll be fine if everything is still available to play locally, but even then I'll be greatly annoyed.

evidence != proof

But but..  
The "Orbis Vita(e)" theory!(Circle of Life)  
 
Curses!

They're going to skip 4 and announce PlayStation 5. You heard it here first.

Isn't gaming the only area Sony are currently profitable in? Why would they give up most of that revenue?

evidence != proof

If anybody has something to gain by playing it safe, it's Sony. They need to make money wherever they can, and video games seems to be the only way they've succeeded with that. If I were them I wouldn't mess with the current business model.

OnLive already does cloud gaming.

The Internet is not dependable enough for a streaming game service that's worth a shit. When my cable goes out I do not want to be blocked from games I already paid for. Internet is not as prevalent as people believe it is. Over 40% of consoles still never connect to the Internet. There has to be physical media delivery device for one more cycle minimum.

-1 for shitty title.

-2 for just a bunch of links.

-3 because it's before lunch and I'm grumpy.

I like the Idea of cloud gaming on the pc, in that I can start a game of Civ 5 on the desktop, and then continue on the laptop, Whilst lying in bed, and not having to worry about specs. But if I buy a game for the current generation of consoles, the only thing that needs to match up is the platform, if that matches I can run the game.

I do like the Idea that I can download a game from PSN and after its above 15% I can start playing it, when It's at 100% its saved locally at my harddrive, in case the Internet dies out. But this probably isn't the easiest thing to do.

SCE's current CEO Andrew House has already gone on the record as saying that physical media is still the best solution. I seriously doubt any company that isn't trying to destroy itself would commit entirely to cloud gaming and streaming, especially Sony. They'll announce something I'm sure, but not something so drastic.

I mean it isn't like Valve focused a lot on its partial-cloud solution and destroyed itself in the process....oh wait! :)

The current market is in place to maximize profits by selling disks on store shelves. Amazon and digital stores are eroding that where year over year the supply chain isn't getting cheaper to run and games are selling less and less. It is better the vendors figure out how to handle a new system than be caught flatfooted.

What I think: cloud gaming will be mostly reserved for backwards-compatibility. In other words, considering all the rumors that the PS4 won't be able to play previous-generation games, Sony will offer a cloud-based service for playing those games on your PS4.

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

@AlexW00d said:

Isn't gaming the only area Sony are currently profitable in? Why would they give up most of that revenue?

Well actually, their biggest profit areas are Financial Services, Music and Pictures. Music will only increase as they recently bought most of EMI's publishing rights. Electronic devices are their big revenue generator, but not profit.

@louiedog said:

evidence != proof

"Well, it's more speculation than proof. Just a catchy thread title, y'know."

And this whole thread is proof of what exactly? The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were a licence to print money for Sony. The rocky start to the PlayStation 3 was their own doing, but they've nearly caught up to Microsoft now. I don't even own or care about the PlayStation 3, but you need to not get so sucked into the hype of crappy video game sites barfing up 'analyst predictions' and bullshit rumours. They'd sell off movie and game IP before abandoning consoles. Use your head.

And cloud gaming? Come back in about a decade. Isn't it some small percentage of gamers who actually play online? And do you have any idea what broadband connections are like around the world? What about the infastructre they'd have build around the world before the inevitable Xbox 720? Like I said, use your head and don't buy into all this shit so easy.

It is obviously going to be Playstation 724! A whole 4 numbers better than the Xbox 720!

On a more serious note, I doubt they won't make a Playstation 4 and I doubt they will announce a clod gaming platform at this E3. But if they do, will it be exclusive with AT&T?

Also this:

@Vegetable_Side_Dish said:

@AlexW00d said:

Isn't gaming the only area Sony are currently profitable in? Why would they give up most of that revenue?

Well actually, their biggest profit areas are Financial Services, Music and Pictures. Music will only increase as they recently bought most of EMI's publishing rights. Electronic devices are their big revenue generator, but not profit.

@louiedog

said:

evidence != proof

"Well, it's more speculation than proof. Just a catchy thread title, y'know."

And this whole thread is proof of what exactly? The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were a licence to print money for Sony. The rocky start to the PlayStation 3 was their own doing, but they've nearly caught up to Microsoft now. I don't even own or care about the PlayStation 3, but you need to not get so sucked into the hype of crappy video game sites barfing up 'analyst predictions' and bullshit rumours. They'd sell off movie and game IP before abandoning consoles. Use your head.

And cloud gaming? Come back in about a decade. Isn't it some small percentage of gamers who actually play online? And do you have any idea what broadband connections are like around the world? What about the infastructre they'd have build around the world before the inevitable Xbox 720? Like I said, use your head and don't buy into all this shit so easy.

Maybe cloud gaming can work in Japan or Korea where they have stellar internet, but here in the States, broadband is too spotty and speeds vary too greatly. If Sony brings such a platform to America this next generation, then they're handing the territory completely over to Microsoft and possibly Nintendo.

The reality is true "cloud gaming" is nowhere near ready for prime time. Due to the current general infrastructure of the internet, latency is still an enormous issue that hinders a seamless cloud gaming gameplay experience. Perhaps in another 10 years or so when most people have >100mb synchronous broadband with excellent latency even during prime time things will be different, but for now, any serious attempt at a cloud gaming service will fail. Sony would be insane to pursue this.

When I hear Cloud gaming services I think Steam. It would be a hell of a thing of Sony were to purchase Steam.

Hopefully it will be something along the lines of getting access to cloud version of the game if you buy the actual version. Though that wouldn't make much sense either unless you could download it to the system.

@Winternet said:

They're going to skip 4 and announce PlayStation 5. You heard it here first.

haha Then X-Box will one up them with X-Box 666.

I hope this isn't true.

Frankly the better the internet infrastructure gets, the more realistic this stuff becomes. And as far as I'm aware it's one of the technologies that is getting faster and more widely available exponentially.

If in however many years, everyone has perfect internet what's the problem. I don't have physical copies of my 300ish Steam games, but I'm not worried about losing them any time soon. Besides, discs are just a data delivery method; and poor ones at that, when compared to a download that takes up no physical space, can be re-downloaded infinitely and won't get damaged.

If the services work well enough I'd be okay with it. I'm pretty done with retail anyway and prefer to download what I can now. I don't know that cloud-gaming is the way forward, but I definitely don't think retail is.

But yeah, there'll be a PS4.

Something tells me this is just a stop-gap measure to lengthen the lifespan of the PS3 some more.

I wouldn't be surprised if:

• Jack Tretton is proud to announce a new partnership with Gaikai to keep Playstation at the forefront of gaming, by offering "select" titles "exclusively" on the Playstation platform.
• This feature will come, at no extra charge, to Playstation Plus members, this fall.
• Play with your familiar Dualshock controller, or plug in your USB keyboard and mouse.
• All PSN content will take advantage of Gaikai technology: no more downloading, no more worrying about disk space.
• This technology will come to all Sony platforms, whether it is TVs, cell phones or consoles, offering you the Playstation experience when and where you want it.

Oh, who am I kidding. Sony isn't that smart.

I don't know if streaming the binary "live" to execute is "ready for primetime" but clearly the on-demand market place is available and ready. I would rather see the platform vendors offer partial availability where you can buy a full game and download it as many times as you want to the signed console.

Cloud gaming won't work very well until the rest of the world catches up to Asia's internet level.

@CaLe said:

Times they are a changin'.

As long as they offer to pay my bandwidth overages, sign me up immediately!

Myth BUSTED

Hint, they would never give up on the MILLIONS of people who go to walmart, bestbuy and gamestop and buy discs. Only 50% of current 360s are even connected to the internet.

You should realize that Wal-mart and Best Buy are seeing shrinking sales in video games and movies. Exactly how valuable are those MILLIONS who appear to shop at those places less and less?

None of the "big 3" will bow out. They don't have a good reason to. Not unless they're hiding something.

I think the mostly likely announcement at e3 is Gainkai going out of business....no this years e3... but within three years. If you really want Sony news then expect BluRay movie discs (or any physical copies) to be discontinued by 2016.

I wouldn't be surprised to see sony announce integration of Gaikai with their TVs for PS3 games. IE: No need for a PS3 to play the games, or something along those lines.

That being said, I find it unlikely that Sony will bow out of console development.

Apparently some people in this thread are going off pre-2008-era Sony Financials saying that Sony is losing money on the PS3. Not only are they currently on the sales path to exceed total 360 sales worldwide by the end of the year (They're behind by 2 million currently according to vgchartz and a few other places, but that includes both 360 failed unit repurchases and PS3 YLOD repurchases), but PS3/SCE is the most profitable division of Sony right now. (Well, as of this year, probably the only profitable division). It has been since financial year 2009)

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/355041/sony_back_profit_bravia_vaio_ps3_strength/

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sonys-game-division-sees-135-profit-boost-during-holiday-quarter/

Yeah I don't think this means Sony is going full cloud gaming. I bet this is Sony just upping their cloud service and setting up the frame work for the future.

The console that decides to go with no optical drive and no physical hardware is going to be made by the company that will NOT survive this generation.