Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai has confirmed that the company is looking into disc-free network gaming for future generations, but insisted that the global infrastructure is not yet in place.

With the PlayStation 3 finally beginning to look like the gaming powerhouse its legacy suggested it would be, Hirai is keen to promote the current flagship PlayStation model.

Future tech

But Hirai is mindful of the future, and the oft-talked about gaming purely thorugh online and not needing a physical disc, something he believes is not currently possible with the disparity in network speeds across the world.

"It's something we would look at. We have had a lot of discussion internally about where the road map will take us," Hirai told the BBC.

"[With network gaming] we're also dependent on the network infrastructure available in all the territories we do business in.

"Some have faster broadband access than others. When you consider that content that plays on PlayStation 3 can go as high as 50GB it's going to be very difficult to deliver 50GB to consumers in some parts of the world in a timely fashion."

PlayStation 4

Hirai also talked about the likely timeline for the next incarnation of PlayStation but confessed to not knowing what it would be capable of.

"It's very difficult to say at this point in time," added Hirai.

"We need to take a look at advances in technology in various areas, such as semiconductors, graphics chips, output devices, mainly TV and monitors, to see where we would like to benchmark our next generation product."