While many thought that Sony Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato’s comments about a next generation console were pointing towards the company’s work on the PS4, a Sony spokesperson has come out to refute those claims.

Kato’s comments, as revealed by the spokesperson, were taken out of context and actually meant to reference Sony’s work on the NGP, their next generation hand-held.

Though this rebuttal from Sony does put Kato’s comments into their proper context, that doesn’t mean that the PlayStation 4’s existence or development should be completely written off. While both Sony and Microsoft have come out to say that their motion controls were meant to serve as faux “consoles,” those comments were made before Nintendo’s successor to the Wii was preemptively revealed.

Since then, many industry analysts have been suggesting that Sony has begun work on their next console out of a necessity to stay competitive. Obviously the NGP is Sony's main focus, but with Nintendo following up their exciting new handheld console with a next-gen home console, you’d expect Sony to at least consider following suit.

Also Kato’s comments about a new console seem to indicate that Sony is putting their effort into an unannounced platform — which should have ruled out the NGP. We may have a classic case of backtracking on our hands, or, as is usually the case, someone incorrectly phrasing their statements without realizing how painstakingly scrutinized they will be.

To read exactly what Kato said, see below:

“For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform — when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that — but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there.”

Seems a bit more focused on the PS3 and it’s future to me, but you never can tell.

We might not know more on the issue until after this year’s E3, but don’t be surprised if Sony puts most of their focus on exclusive PS3 titles and the NGP rather than trying to outdo Nintendo with a next-gen console.

Do you think that Sony is working on the PS4 or was this just a case of misinterpretation? Should Sony be focusing on the NGP, when Nintendo has a monster E3 announcement around the corner?

Source: Livedoor (via The Silent Chief)