Sony’s PS5 console will turn five years old in November, and with an eye on the future, the company recently revealed its thoughts on what’s next for PlayStation. During a business presentation hosted by several top Sony executives, president and CEO Hideaki Nishino responded to a query about future PlayStation hardware and if a next-gen PS6 console was even necessary when cloud gaming has improved over the years.

According to Nishino, while cloud gaming is “progressing well from a technical standpoint,” certain challenging aspects like end-to-end network stability remain out of Sony’s control. Nishino added that cloud-based gameplay is still a viable option for gamers and allows them to access more content, but the “local execution” of games–via physical media or content downloaded directly to console hardware–remains in high demand by the majority of PlayStation gamers.

“Cloud gaming is increasingly providing an additional option for players to access content, but our belief is that the majority of players continue to want to play and experience gaming through local execution without dependency on network conditions,” Nishino said. “PS5 and PS5 Pro have validated this thesis, I believe.”

On the topic of the next-gen PlayStation console, Nishino remained tight-lipped. “Our console business has evolved into a multi-faceted platform, and we now have a large ecosystem of highly engaged players across both the PS5 and PS4 generations, so naturally, there’s a huge interest in our next-generation console strategy,” Nishino said. “While we cannot share further details at this stage, the future of the platform is top of mind. We are committed to exploring a new and enhanced way for players to engage with our content and services.”

What we do know about the PS6 is that it likely won’t be out for quite a while yet. Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida recently said that if the next PlayStation comes out in 2028, that would feel right to him, given how current console generations typically run for around seven years now.

In 2024, it was reported that Intel made a big push to produce chips for the PS6, but Sony decided to stick with AMD. While PlayStation gamers will be in for a long wait, Sony did introduce a mid-gen PS5 refresh last year in the form of the PS5 Pro.