Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 console will not feature always-online functionality as many countries don't have the robust internet connection necessary to support it, Sony president Shuhei Yoshida told Game Informer Magazine.
According to Yoshida, Sony didn't even consider incorporating this always-connected approach. "Did we consider it? No, we didn't consider it," he said in this week's issue, reported by GameSpot. "The main reason being that many countries don't have robust Internet connections. It makes sense for people to have internet connections to play online games, but for offline games there are many countries that we saw [that] do not really have robust Internet."
Sony unveiled the new console in February, and is slated for a holiday 2013 release. The company's comments follow rumors regarding Microsoft's intentions with its own next-gen console, believed to be revealed on May 21. Months of speculation suggest the new Xbox will require users to be connected to the internet at all times.