Sony confirms no ICS update for the Xperia Play

It turns out everyone’s suspicions were correct; Sony isn’t updating the Xperia Play — their flagship gaming smartphone — to Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. Citing stability issues, Sony stated that it wasn’t worth updating the device to ICS if games weren’t going to function to their full capacity.

In regards to Xperia PLAY, after extensive in house testing with our developer teams and working with our partners, we have concluded that a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smartphone on Ice Cream Sandwich – therefore, we will not make the Android 4.0 upgrade available for Xperia PLAY.

While this may be a massive disappointment for users, in the end if it means you’re going to get a better gaming experience — which is probably why you bought the phone — then you’re better to stick with Gingerbread. This also opens up a new can of worms: when will we see the Xperia Play 2.0. Pressure will begin to mount on Sony to create a next-gen gaming phone to one-up the Xperia Play now that it is going to be left behind.