This just in: Sony has officially “killed” the PlayStation 4.
The PS4 couldn’t quite sell a few million more units to reach the 120 million mark.
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This is one of the biggest takeaways from Sony’s latest gaming earnings report. Make no mistake, the focus is still on the slight hit that video game unit sales took in the last quarter. But, as TweakTown points out, it also served as the “death certification” of the PlayStation 4.
According to TweakTown, all the Sony earnings reports from 2014 until the quarter before its latest one had a section specifically for PS4 console shipments. The Q122 report did not have such a section. Instead, Sony replaced it with a section for PS5 sales. This is the signal for the end of the PS4. Then again, this was a long time coming. Sony first launched the PS4 in 2013. With this “confirmation”, it appears that Sony’s earlier statement that it will make a million more PS4 units for the year was for the last batch.
Now that Sony will stop producing more PS4 units, PS4 sales will top out at 117.2 million. It’s not quite enough to topple the PlayStation 2’s record at 155 million but it should secure a top 5 finish of all time as the Nintendo Switch is expected to eclipse its sales in the next few years after already outselling the PS4 in the United States.
At the end of the day, this is good news for PlayStation fans. Sony eventually had to stop supporting the eighth-generation console. With this revelation, God of War: Ragnarok is the last big exclusive to be playable on the PS4. Although this would mean that PS4 owners will have to upgrade to the PS5 to enjoy future exclusives, Sony is making sure that more of its flagship console will become available. In the same report, Sony confirmed that it will start to ship more PS5 consoles this fiscal year than ever before.
If Sony succeeds with its plans, it will ship 18 million PS5 systems through the current fiscal year. This is a new PlayStation sales record.
In the meantime, PS4 and PS5 owners can enjoy the PS Plus free games lineup for next month starting on August 2. A boatload of Yakuza games is also headed to the PS Plus Extra and Premium lineup in the next few months.