Sony is not preparing to move PlayStation away from dedicated game consoles, even as the company looks at hardware that could make console gaming less tied to one screen in the living room.
PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino discussed the future of Sony Interactive Entertainment hardware in a wide-ranging Famitsu interview, saying he still believes a dedicated game machine is important to the PlayStation experience. The comments do not announce the PS6, confirm a name or lock down any specs, but they are a useful signal at a time when next-generation console pricing, PC competition and cloud gaming are already shaping player expectations.
"The idea that you need a game console in order to play the game does not change. On top of that, the reason why we make a game machine is because I think it is important to play the game when you turn on the power as an experience. From this point of view, I would like to continue to provide our own game consoles."
The console line is the key part for PlayStation fans. Sony has spent the PS5 generation experimenting around the main box with PlayStation Portal, cloud streaming, PC releases and hardware such as monitors and audio gear. Nishino's answer frames those products as extensions of the console business, not replacements for it.
Sony is leaving room for a different kind of PlayStation setup
Nishino also said future game-machine experiences could use technology in "various shapes and various places," which leaves Sony plenty of flexibility. A future PlayStation could still be a box connected to a TV, but Sony is clearly thinking about how players use the platform when the TV is occupied, when they want a portable screen or when streaming can fill in gaps.
The current PlayStation ecosystem already shows that split. In the same interview, Nishino said PS5 sold 16 million units in Sony's last fiscal year and described PlayStation Plus as performing well. He also said the upper Extra and Premium tiers make up about 40% of PlayStation Plus users in Japan, where cloud streaming use has grown enough for Sony to add servers.
PlayStation Portal is part of that same push. Nishino described it as an attempt at a new play experience and said cloud streaming users on Portal in January 2026 were 1.5 times higher than in December 2025, after the feature arrived in November 2025.
PS6 questions are still wide open
The timing makes the comments more interesting than a routine hardware answer. Sony has not formally revealed its next console, but the conversation around PS6 has already started, especially after recent speculation that PS6 parts costs could drive a much higher price. Nishino's remarks do not answer that pricing question. They do, however, push back against the idea that Sony's next step is to abandon the dedicated console model.
They also sit beside Sony's recent shift back toward PlayStation hardware as the center of its strategy. Earlier reporting said future PlayStation Studios single-player games may stay closer to PS5 instead of moving broadly to PC, while Sony's latest annual report put more emphasis on PlayStation hardware, services and the store.
Sony's message is narrower than a PS6 reveal, but it is still clear: the company wants a dedicated PlayStation console at the heart of the platform. The unresolved part is what else connects to it, and how much of the next generation is shaped by remote play, cloud access, portable screens and rising hardware costs.