Sony: it would be "undesirable" for PS4 to launch significantly later than the competition

Having given Microsoft a year's head start in the current generation, PlayStation Europe boss Jim Ryan said it would be "undesirable" for PS4 to repeat that for the next-generation.

Speaking to Eurogamer TV this afternoon at a press event for PlayStation Vita in London, Ryan, who stepped up to the SCEE top job in the summer, said: "I think we would consider it undesirable to be significantly later than the competition [with the next PlayStation]."

With Wii U out next year and Microsoft expected to reveal the next Xbox in 2012 amid suggestions that a number of studios are already making games for a 2013 launch, industry chatter regarding a PlayStation 3 successor has been considerably more muted.

This, coupled with Sony's overall financial position, has led to speculation that the company is behind its rivals with its next-generation planning.

Ryan defended Sony's strategy, insisting: "There's still a lot of unfinished business on PS3."

He added: "If you look at PlayStation 2, now in excess of 150m units installed globally, a huge majority of that was done at price points of £120 or lower. [With PS3] we've only just hit £199 in the UK, so clearly there's a considerable untapped part of the market there."

Last week Edge reported that a first-party Sony studio had ceased PS3 development and moved onto PS4 development. The unnamed developer is also apparently involved in building the graphics technology for Sony's next system.

It then said Guerrilla Games was making a new Killzone game - for PlayStation 4?