Sony confirms next-generation Playstation console is in the works

That's because Sony's Playstation 4 is getting a next-generation successor, perhaps to compete with the anticipated 2020 follow-up to the Xbox One now codenamed "Scarlett".

"At this point, what I can say is it's necessary to have a [sic] next-generation hardware", Yoshida stated.

Sony's president reportedly has confirmed that the company is working on the next PlayStation, but stopped short of calling it "PlayStation 5".

It makes sense that Sony is working on its next generation of hardware, given that the PS4 is now 5 years into its lifecycle.

It clearly feels that the future of gaming remains with the home console.

Both Sony and its traditional arch-rival, the Xbox-toting Microsoft (msft), have recently been moving towards support for game-playing across different devices.

A couple weeks ago, Sony (snejf) said it was experimenting with letting people play the hit game Fortnite across the PS4, Android, iOS, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows and Mac machines.

A patent filed by Sony has emerged, which appears to provide a potential means of making PS4 games backwards-compatible on the forthcoming PlayStation 5.

The PS5 will reportedly have a similar architecture to the PS4 and "represent a major departure from the PS4", according to the Financial Times (behind paywall).

The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro will not be the last of the PlayStation console.

Given that the PlayStation 4 continues to sell tremendously well, it's no surprise that Sony would want to hold off for as long as possible.

Regardless of what Sony declined to say, we now know that new hardware is in the works.