Sony's Tretton: PlayStation 4 Timing Not Affected By Wii U Announcement

Though Sony is watching its competition closely, the announcement of Nintendo's Wii U will not speed up the release of its next PlayStation platform, according to the company. Speaking to Forbes, Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton said Nintendo's announcement of its next console will not affect the release of a potential PlayStation 4. "I didn’t see anything about Nintendo’s announcement that said 'Oh, we’d better get working on rolling out a new PlayStation here pretty soon.'" said Tretton. According to Tretton, Sony's PlayStation 3 is "just hitting its stride," and he sees the competition catching up to the company rather than advancing past it. "What we’ve seen from the competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3," he said. "We invested heavily in that, we rolled a very heavy rock up a steep hill, through the launch period. But now I think that all pays off, and we’ve got a long run way behind it." Tretton added that he doesn't anticipate discussing the next PlayStation platform for "quite some time." According to Tretton, all three console manufacturers have managed to find their own niche, with Sony going after "the masses" while Nintendo focuses on "a more casual, young audience" and Microsoft "the shooter audience." "I think more than ever, this generation of consoles has more product differentiation, and companies have staked out their own ground," he said. "It's a very healthy industry, there's room for everybody." In the absence of new hardware, Sony's strategy for the immediate future will focus on its excusive titles (such as Killzone 3, Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3), its push for 3D adoption, and its new PS Vita handheld, all of which Tretton says differentiate the company from its competition.