Sony Japan Discontinues All But One PlayStation 4 Model

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on January 5th, 2021 in the Gaming category.

 

Is this a typo? The PS4 Pro has been around for longer than 3 years...? The OG PS4 was released a little over 7 years ago.

EDIT: I see it's changed now

 

Well this could well be supported by an unofficial source telling me that Sony has asked for it's factories to produce three times the amount of PS5 console units specifically for the UK over the next three months Jan, Feb and March 2021.

The number is reported to be around the three million mark, I treat this with a pinch of salt of course and I fortunately have my PS5 already but discontinuing production of some PS4 units will certainly explain where such figures might have come from.

Currently on general phone round for my bro but GAME, Amazon and Smyth's here in Dundee all say they are expecting new consoles this month so we shall see if Sony delivers!

 

Probably. TSMC is basically at capacity for everything right now between the PS5, Big Navi, Zen 3 and the SeX, so continuing to make older process stuff like the components of the PS4 can't be helping things.

 

I do not think PS5 production has anything to do with PS4 production stop for almost all models.
They just keep at least one model to allow many players to continue their games on PS4.
No all peopel will buy PS5 in the next week or months. When I bought PS4 after 6 months from release, many people
still bought Ps3 at low prices.

 

Ending production doesn't mean magically disappearing inventory at retail. So stopping production to make room for PS5 capacity is most likely what is happening.

 

Although it's probably going to be a few years until manufacturing of the PS4 ceases for good I wasn't expecting for it to start this soon. Especially not that the base PS4 would be the last remaining version. I'm sure PS5 backwards compatibility is partly responsible for this as it will make the PS4 effectively obsolete at some point. When production of the Vita was ceased I bought myself one as a sort of investment. I still have it and I'm keeping it sealed. I'm not sure I'm going to do the same with the PS4 though.

 

I wonder if this PS4 Slim will get any revisions going forward, maybe even a super slim version like the PS3 did when the PS4 came out.

 

I believe the demand for PS5 is so high, that Sony can discontinue the PS4 within the next 18 months. I expect Sony to discontinue the regular $500 PS5 and replace it with a PS5 Pro (with disc) for $600, sometime during Q3/Q4 2022. I wouldn't be surprised if the digital PS5 was designed in a manner that allows Sony to aggressively reduce production costs, allowing them to lower the MSRP as soon as possible. This should help fend off Microsoft's affordable/expensive approach with the Series Xboxes.

So, I'm expecting the regular PS4 to hang around the rest of 2021, while Sony continues to fulfill the initial PS5 demand. By the end of the year we should see at least 25mil active PS5s. For 2022, the PS4 gets the ax, Sony releases a 1.2TB or 2TB digital console for $350, announces the PS5 Pro for $600, drops the prices of the 600GB PS5 digital down to $300, and the regular disc PS5 down to $400, for the holiday season and then discontinues them. 2023 will see the PS5 Pro enter regular production with a launch bundle and we'll have a new PSVR by EOY 2023. We'll have a PS5 Slim by 2025, and we'll be hearing talk of the PS6, and whether or not Sony has decided to stick with x86. The only thing I can't figure out is when Sony will announce the Gamepass competitor. Soon, and support both the PS4 and PS5, or wait the PS4 is discontinued, and make it PS5 only, like the PS+ Collection.

tl;dr: PS4 will be gone real soon because Sony has gone all in with the PS5. The good news is that PS5 early adopters should see more PS5-enhanced titles this year. (and GT7 won't be out until 2022!)

 

PS4/One games started to look a little tired on large 4K screens (which started to sell in high volumes) and this was likely a big part of the decision to make enhanced the consoles. We are not going to see a big change in TV consumption during this generation so I don't see the need for a Pro console that early in this generation's lifespan.

Time will tell!

 

MS dropped the Xbox One S/X like right away.... straight to jail.. once the announced the new Series line.

I wonder what took Sony so long other than to think they were drawing down inventory.

 

They might have been waiting to see how bad the supply situation was for the holidays for PS5 before committing to the system full time.