PS4 heading into end of its life cycle according to PlayStation CEO

[Oobedoob S Benubi]

https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2018/5/22/17379880/ps4-life-cycle-ending-psn-psvr

 

TL;DR? PS4 hardware sales have started to decline, so it's the beginning of the end. Moving forward, they're going to concentrate on network expansion (which might be why PS+ PS4 games have been leaning more towards AAA the past months) and on exclusive titles.

 

That last bit sounds especially promising to me:

 

"Kodera said first-party titles are a major component of Sony’s software strategy going forward, with plans that include “franchising successful IPs and refreshing existing IPs” in addition to creating original games, reports Mochizuki."

 

The number of PS+ subscribers has reached over 34 million last month, apparently, with over 80 million active PSN users. Sony will aim to get that number to 100 million active users.

[Waddlingdan]

Better start snagging those PS3 plats.

[KingGuy420]

Have to admit, your run down of this is probably the fairest explanation I've seen today. All day I've seen so many clickbait "OMG PS4 IS DEAD!!!!" type of crap.

 

I think that dudes words got severely twisted. When he said that the system was entering the final stages of it's life span, he was referring the success of the console. He literally said those things in the same breath as referring to sales numbers. How people twisted that to "ps4 is dead, ps5 confirmed" is beyond me. When someone turns 65, they're referred to as entering the final stages of their life span... That doesn't automatically mean they're gonna die at 66 lol.

Edited May 23, 2018 by KingGuy420

[ExHaseo]

Sales are slowing because the majority of people who want a PS4 already have one at this point. The majority of the market has already been tapped. There's definitely still a decent number of people out there who don't have a PS4 yet, but it makes sense that it's not setting sales records or anything when so many people already have the system.

 

Anyway, what this really means is that we've hit the middle of the generation, and they're going to stop trying to push console sales for a while, and instead push game sales instead. We'll probably start to see a lot more big releases from Sony as they milk their current playerbase for a few years before releasing a new console and starting over.

[KingGuy420]

1 minute ago, ExHaseo said:

Sales are slowing because the majority of people who want a PS4 already have one at this point. The majority of the market has already been tapped. There's definitely still a decent number of people out there who don't have a PS4 yet, but it makes sense that it's not setting sales records or anything when so many people already have the system.

 

Anyway, what this really means is that we've hit the middle of the generation, and they're going to stop trying to push console sales for a while, and instead push game sales instead. We'll probably start to see a lot more big releases from Sony as they milk their current playerbase for a few years before releasing a new console and starting over.

 

If I could "like" this twice I would lol. Now is when we'll probably see this generation shine, not die.

[PliskinCobra]

PS4 is now 5 years old, it came out when PS3 was 7 years old so it's fair to consider the PS4 is entering its final stage.

It's already attract a lot of new customers so of course one day the hardware sales growth would decline.

The last few years has been more successful than ever for PS4 with a lot of well-received first party titles so there is no way it's gonna die any time soon, at least until 2020

[eigen-space]

Did I miss it in the article, or did they not mention PS4 Pro sales? Are they lumping both Pro and regular together? I would imagine that you'd see people buying a Pro over the regular as the pro is only a little more expensive at this point. 

[AJ_Radio]

I don't see myself getting all too excited for the Playstation 5.

 

I've said it before several times already, but I feel that AAA games these days and in the near future are focusing far too much on graphics rather than the gameplay itself. As far as innovating gameplay I think we've hit a plateau, because in concept the initial blueprint hasn't changed much in the past few years. Photorealistic graphics will draw a lot of future gamers and they will be especially important for this years E3 presentation in Los Angeles.

 

It's all about the money to Sony now. They're so far out in front this generation that I seriously wonder if Microsoft is going to try to keep up in the competition when these giant companies are going to switch over to the new consoles. Meanwhile I'm sitting here thinking on a number of Playstation 3 games I want to try out because I never got around to playing them when they got released.

 

They have good exclusives, there's no debate on that. I'm just curious on what Sony is going to do with those PSN games on the Vita and PS3.

[FielVeredus]

I hope this will carryover at least PS3 (Vita is also great) , there are still tons of game i still want to play and earn trophies...

 

I hope the announcement back in Feb is the sign that they are going to merge all legacy platform into new one in the future so 1 store have all game and can play on PS5.

[dmland12]

It's not too surprising that console sales are starting to fall at this point.  They've already sold a lot of consoles and built up a big userbase.  And we're a good ways into this generation.

 

From the article:

Quote

Sony is currently projecting lower profits for its 2020 fiscal year: The company expects operating income to fall within a range of 130-170 billion yen. Kodera said that during the next three years — the period from now through the 2020 fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2021 — the PlayStation division will “crouch down once” to grow afterward, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Mochizuki. Perhaps that means we won’t see a new hardware generation until around that time.

 

This is probably the best speculation I've seen with respect to the release date of the PS5, since it's based on Sony's business projections and not some random guessing.

[mrbastounis]

PS4 sales slowing? Nah.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/05/april_2018_npd_ps4_breaks_records_in_staggering_month

[DrBloodmoney]

4 hours ago, ExHaseo said:

 

Anyway, what this really means is that we've hit the middle of the generation, and they're going to stop trying to push console sales for a while, and instead push game sales instead. We'll probably start to see a lot more big releases from Sony as they milk their current playerbase for a few years before releasing a new console and starting over.

 

Exactly.

 

I suspect this is also a little nod in the direction of developers - to at least start considering a future console cycle when blueprinting new game concepts, given that any bigger budget games in conceptual phase now, will likely have release dates around or shortly after a new console drops.

 

3 hours ago, mrbastounis said:

PS4 sales slowing? Nah.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/05/april_2018_npd_ps4_breaks_records_in_staggering_month

 

Lol, I suspect the CEO of Sony has slightly better forcast data and sales projections on thier own product than Push Square does....

[DaivRules]

The only piece of information I wasn't aware of (hence me putting out my wager around a year ago) was the Plus subscriber count. Only 34 million. I would have pegged it slightly higher, around 40 million. Just goes to show that a whole bunch of PS4 purchasers don't give two shits about Plus and Sony isn't forcing anything on anyone.

 

Compared to that, Microsoft has 59 million Xbox Live subscribers. That's a bit more than I thought they would have.

 

Obviously Sony has been making smart business decisions to give the market what they want and the market has responded by buying their consoles.

 

This'll be a great next couple of years for gamers as the current gen platform has fully matured and the tools for developing have been refined, allowing developers the easiest access point yet.

[StrickenBiged]

There's also new speculation about the PS5's chipset, some think it might be AMD's Ryzen chip based on a Sony programmer making contributions to Github regarding the Ryzen chip. 

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-sony-is-working-with-amd-ryzen-and-ps5-is-the-most-likely-target

 

More on topic - great news to hear that they're focussing on exclusives and getting people onto PS+. Ever since I switched to Sony this gen, I have marvelled at the quality of Sony's exclusive lineup, and thanked my lucky stars that I didn't stick with XB. Hopefully the PS+ push will mean more benefits for those of us that subscribe already, as it would make sense for them to do something to the PS+ offer to make subscribing more attractive. 

[Gommes_]

6 hours ago, Spaz said:

I don't see myself getting all too excited for the Playstation 5.

 

I've said it before several times already, but I feel that AAA games these days and in the near future are focusing far too much on graphics rather than the gameplay itself. As far as innovating gameplay I think we've hit a plateau, because in concept the initial blueprint hasn't changed much in the past few years. Photorealistic graphics will draw a lot of future gamers and they will be especially important for this years E3 presentation in Los Angeles.

 

You are absolutely right. I also have the feeling that the PS3 lineup was more creative than most games today. The PS4 is a good console but it didn't blew me away, so I am not that excited for a PS5 too. But well, maybe that changes

[DaivRules]

6 minutes ago, StrickenBiged said:

There's also new speculation about the PS5's chipset, some think it might be AMD's Ryzen chip based on a Sony programmer making contributions to Github regarding the Ryzen chip. 

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-sony-is-working-with-amd-ryzen-and-ps5-is-the-most-likely-target

 

 

It makes total sense for Sony to work with AMD on the CPU architecture early, making sure they've got options for long-term plans. Getting in on the 1st gen ensures you're cemented when it comes to CPU tech while hoping/paying/finding a workaround for a revision later is irresponsible.

 

This is the part most of the internet zealots with brush off:

Quote

Advanced Technology Group... team can work on various projects unrelated to hardware design. For example, they can work closely with game developers, or even with other companies associated with Sony but not necessarily working on PlayStation products. The news ... isn't quite a smoking gun that confirms the spec.

 

[merciful84]

That's funny because the last manufactured PS2 was only released like 4 years ago. Seems like a cheap way to increase the demand for PS3s & PS4s (including all related games).

Edited May 23, 2018 by merciful84

[Evertonian]

So focussed on trying to make a dent into the PS3 and Vita backlog that not played anywhere near as much PS4 as I would like and now we are entering the PS5 speculation phase

 

I wish everything would slow down a bit so old codgers like myself could catch up!

[kidson2004]

 

I JUST got my PS4, and have probably 7-9 years of playing on it to go. Hell, I still have my PS3 and have more to go in that as well. I think I’ll wait until they release a PS5 PRO and be easy with what I have for now. 

[snakebit10]

7 hours ago, FielVeredus said:

I hope this will carryover at least PS3 (Vita is also great) , there are still tons of game i still want to play and earn trophies...

 

I hope the announcement back in Feb is the sign that they are going to merge all legacy platform into new one in the future so 1 store have all game and can play on PS5.

 

This right here is one of my hopes for next gen. I have so many games on PS4 that I have bought from all the sales they have had. It is tough managing PS3 and PS4. I can not imagine managing 3 systems.

[Dangisuckatgamin]

2 hours ago, DaivRules said:

The only piece of information I wasn't aware of (hence me putting out my wager around a year ago) was the Plus subscriber count. Only 34 million. I would have pegged it slightly higher, around 40 million. Just goes to show that a whole bunch of PS4 purchasers don't give two shits about Plus and Sony isn't forcing anything on anyone.

 

Compared to that, Microsoft has 59 million Xbox Live subscribers. That's a bit more than I thought they would have.

 

Obviously Sony has been making smart business decisions to give the market what they want and the market has responded by buying their consoles.

 

This'll be a great next couple of years for gamers as the current gen platform has fully matured and the tools for developing have been refined, allowing developers the easiest access point yet.

This also could be due to most people having quit PS4 pretty quickly after getting one as well. Half my list is inactive these days or on F2P games like Fortnite lol

 

But more OT:

I don't care about the PS5.. not sure how anyone could atm.

I won't be getting it till it's at least 3-4 years old this time around, if i even get it. I've been gaming way less myself.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Dangisuckatgamin

[Dav9834]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't turned into a venting of emotions that there shouldn't be a ps5 for another 6 years. 

 

PS4 generation flew by, maybe because I'm older and every day goes by in the blink of an eye?

But it's right in line with the other Playstation life cycles. 

 

PS1 - 1994

PS2 - 2000

PS3 - 2006

PS4 - 2013

 

My personal ps5 forcast is spring/fall 2020.

PS5 games are already in development so there's that as well. 

 

I won't get it release day most likely(unless there's a miracle of me finishing all my games). My ps4 backlog is sad >< 

 

But I won't complain about a normal life cycle either. 

[Matto_lsi]

6 hours ago, mrbastounis said:

PS4 sales slowing? Nah.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2018/05/april_2018_npd_ps4_breaks_records_in_staggering_month

 

3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Lol, I suspect the CEO of Sony has slightly better forcast data and sales projections on thier own product than Push Square does....

 

Read that article again.  It clearly says "the system set a new software sales record for the month".  It also goes on to say that hardware units sales were the highest for April, which is due in part to the new games, including God of War, that just came out.  Setting an April sales record is like a movie setting a box office record for a weekend no major movie has ever been released.  And console sales do tend to have odd spikes when major exclusives launch, and I'd argue the God of War franchise is one of Sony's biggest and most recognized exclusive franchises.  Hence the uptick in console sales AND software sales for that month.

[DarkHpokinsn]

My biggest hope for PS5? Being able to carry your PSN account into the PS5 Gen, would be pretty crazy to have PS3,PS4, and PS5 Trophies on one account. However there’s still many more things I wanna play on PS4 so I won’t be thinking about PS5 to much.

Edited May 23, 2018 by DarkHpokinsn

[bpmotard]

7 minutes ago, DarkHpokinsn said:

However there’s still many more things I wanna play on PS4 so I won’t be thinking about PS5 to much.

 

Yup, this is my problem as well.. I have such a HUUUUGE backlog both on PS3, PS4 and VITA that I'm not 100% interested in a next gen any time soon. Wanting to go back to finish some games I started on PS3 and never finished, but with work it's getting harder and harder to do so...