PlayStation 4 lead architect Mark Cerny has admitted that PlayStation 3 suffered from a “weak’ launch line-up, and said this was the catalyst for improving things with its successor, the PlayStation 4.
Speaking to Engadget, Cerny revealed that developers have been calling out for the PS4 since 2008.
"It wasn’t until I was a major contributor to the console side that I got to see how the team worked. What I thought is I’d be able to learn all about the hardware and take that info back to the States and we’d have better games as a result," he said of the run-up to PS3.
"So the PS3 comes out and it has a weak launch lineup, of course, due to the hardware being rather difficult to use."
Cerny revealed that he started scrutinizing PS3 hardware in 2007 to see what worked and what didn’t. This subsequently laid the foundations for how PS4 would take shape.
“I just started thinking there was a better way,” said Cerny, who added that making a console takes four years as opposed to six. The lead up spent talking with vendors however, he described as an “amazingly long amount of time.”
Sony brought in developers five years ago, with Cerny speaking to 30 teams about what they would like to see in a next-generation PlayStation console. In 2010, Sony began executing its hardware spec plans based on the conversations with developers, both internal and external.
"The games business and the games community [have] all evolved to the point where we can be collaborative, where it really makes sense to have those conversations because we have the ability to execute on them," he continued. "We’ve learned enough about how all of this works."
Sony will launch the PS4 on Friday in the U.S. and in the U.K. and Europe on November 29.