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Sony boss Andrew House has admitted that he was surprised Microsoft announced the Xbox Scorpio this week considering that it's almost 18 months away. "The dynamics of the tech industry are such that there's a much heavier emphasis on immediate gratification than there was," he told The Guardian. "A lot of that is to do with how Apple has very cleverly and elegantly managed the 'available now' approach. So yes, that was a slight surprise to me."

House admitted that this is something Sony itself fell foul of when it revealed the PS4 three years ago. "In 2013, very much in line with our previous strategies, we announced a concept and a name for the PS4, and everyone said, 'Where's the box? How dare you?!' That was the point we realised, well, we hadn't changed but the world around us had." This all suggests, of course, that when the company is ready to reveal the PS4K, it'll be available almost instantly.

But some have speculated that the manufacturer may have removed the device from its media briefing because of the Xbox Scorpio. Not so, according to House. "The point of confirming the existence of the Neo and the bare bones of the plan last week was about not disappointing the fan base who would obviously come to E3 2016 with high expectations of all kinds of announcements," he said.

We're not sure we quite buy that comment at all – especially seeing as the clarification came in an interview with the Financial Times rather than on a more fan-focused forum like the PlayStation Blog. It's more likely, then, that the Japanese giant just wants to showcase and release the PS4K in one swift motion, and it's obviously not ready to put it on shelves just yet.

[source theguardian.com, via videogamer.com]