Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president Jim Ryan confirms not only that PlayStation Plus will make the transition to PlayStation 4, but says the premium service will play a "prominant role" on the next-gen platform.
In an interview for the official PlayStation Blog, Ryan calls the service "a core part of the way forward." Sony's plans for PlayStation Plus were not included in the company's first PS4 presentation last week. Meanwhile, Sony purchased a series of domains connected to the name "PlayStation Cloud," prompting rumors that Sony would be dropping PS+, or at least rebranding it.
While Ryan didn't go into detail, he was very clear about one thing: PlayStation Plus isn't going away: "We're not yet in a position to disclose our plans for the future of PlayStation Plus but there will definitely be a prominent role to play for it in the PlayStation 4 landscape." Ryan added that PlayStation Plus membership has tripled in the last year.
Seperately, Ryan also says that, while Sony's focus will gradually switch to the PS4 over the course of the year, the company will continue to support the PS3 as well. More than any console-maker, Sony is serious about supporting previous consoles as secondary hardware. Sony continued making PS2s for almost the entire length of the PS3's lifecycle, finally cancelling production in 2012.
"There are a number of reasons why the transition [from PS3 to PS4] might be a bit more accelerated this time round, but PS3 is a very important part of our portfolio, certainly in 2013, 2014 and probably beyond that."
Sony does still have a few PS3-exclusives up its sleeve, including Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us," Quantic Dream's "Beyond: Two Souls" and, Ryan says, other "yet to be announced" titles.
