Just a few months after Sony Computer Entertainment big cheese Kaz Hirai went on the record as saying that “a near-future PS4 or next-generation home console is not something that we are even debating now”, the company’s chief financial officer Masaru Kato has for the first time officially confirmed that development on a follow up to the PS3 is currently being developed by Sony.

Speaking to investors in a conference call, Kato referred to work on a “future platform” to follow on from the PS3 as being “already underway”. Kato’s outing of the PS4 came after being pressed for details regarding an increase in the company’s research and development spending. 

“For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life,” he said, “but this is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there.”

Sony has stated in the past that the PS3 will have a 10 year shelf life. Given that the console was release in late 2006, we can expect it to sell until 2016. This does not necessarily mean that the PS4 will only be released in 2016, as it is likely that there will be a period in which the two overlap. 

It is quite conceivable that Sony could release a brand new home console as early as 2013, although this is pure speculation. Meanwhile, Nintendo is gearing up to show the world its own next generation console, dubbed Project Cafe, at next month’s E3 conference in Los Angeles. 

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