Sony Future-Proofs PlayStation Trademarks Until PS10 in Japan
Sony Interactive Entertainment has lined up PlayStation trademarks for the next five generations. | Source: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
- Earlier this month Sony filed trademarks for PS6, PS7, PS8, PS9, PS10 in Japan.
- Sony is known to trademark unreleased hardware years ahead of release.
- Trademark filings line up PlayStation consoles to 2050.
Although Sony has yet to unveil its next-generation PlayStation 5 console formally, the company is already looking to the future.
On Oct. 9, Sony Interactive Entertainment filed trademarks in Japan , not just for the PS6, but also for the PS7, PS8, PS9, and PS10. With Sony loosely sticking to a pattern of releasing a new console every six to seven years, the PS10 should take us to around 2050.
Sony’s Past PlayStation Trademarking Habits
The gaming giant filed the trademark for the PS4 system back in 2006, despite not officially launching the console until seven years later in 2013. The PS5 name was trademarked that very same year but won’t arrive until next year – a gap of fourteen years.
Here’s a breakdown of historical PlayStation trademark fillings:
- PS – trademarked in 2000 | Released in 1994
- PS2 – trademarked in 1999 | Released in 2000
- PS3 – trademarked in 2005 | Released in 2006
- PS4 – trademarked in 2006 | Released in 2013
- PS5 – trademarked in 2006 | Scheduled for release in 2020
Looking To The Future
The trademarks highlight that Sony is committed to its PlayStation hardware for the foreseeable future, although how that will pan out with the expected advent of cloud streaming remains to be seen.
There’s no doubt Sony is trademarking these early as a way to avoid name rights litigation further down the line. But, it does get the mind churning away at what the future of gaming holds. One that many of us might not be around to witness.
This particularly prescient PlayStation 2 trailer springs to mind.
Latency free cloud gaming (which Google is already touting with its ‘negative latency’ sorcery), graphics indiscernible from the real-world, esoteric translucent balls, maybe even neural implants – given how gaming has changed in the last thirty years, we can expect similar innovation in the next three decades.
Now watch as someone other than Sony trademarks PS11 just to mess with the company.
