The PlayStation 5 appears to be one step closer to reality this week, as dev kits are sent out to more and more developers.
Indeed, according to a new report by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, Sony is almost exclusively focusing its first-party efforts on PS5 games.
In a post on Resetera, Ahmad told fans to expect a smattering of news at GDC, before a reveal at a much later date.
“In general, most of the focus for Sony 1P is on PS5 right now,” he said. “It is still early to talk about next gen but I imagine we’ll hear some whispers come out of GDC.
“PS5 dev kits are out there and I’ve heard positive things about it. But I wouldn’t expect any information in the immediate future.”
Ahmad believes that 2019 will be another strong year for PS4, and that Sony might reveal one or two cross-platform games.
“2019 will be another solid year for the platform due to the large install base, growing network sales, strong third-party software, first-party software and back catalogue,” he continues.
“Sony has a couple of unannounced games (already existing IP) with PS4 in mind but I’m conscious that there have been discussions around making them cross-gen/next-gen titles.”
But while the internal focus appears to be on PS5 games, a recent report suggests that the wider industry is focused on current-gen.
In a new GDC-published ‘State of the Industry’ report, thousands of developers were asked a range of questions about their work.
In addition to weekly working hours and gender representation, the report examines next-gen game development.
Specifically, the report reveals that only 2% of developers are making games exclusively for unannounced platforms, while 16% of studios are developing for both existing and next-gen platforms.
“Now that the current crop of consoles is ageing nicely, we thought it would be interesting to ask respondents whether they’re or not they’re developing their next game for any upcoming, unannounced platforms,” the report reads.
“Predictably, very few (under a hundred, or less than two percent of) respondents said their next game is being designed exclusively for an unannounced platform.
“16 percent said their next game is being developed for both existing and upcoming, unannounced platforms and the largest share (46 percent) said their next game is only coming to existing platforms. 37 percent said they didn’t know at this time.”