PlayStation boss says the PS4 is entering the end of its lifecycle

[midian182]

The PlayStation 4 might have sold twice as many units as the Xbox One since it launched in 2013, but sales are slowing down. During Sony’s Corporate Strategy Meeting, PlayStation boss John Kodera announced that the console is entering the end of its life cycle, while this might sound ominous for owners, the PS4 isn’t going away anytime soon.

As noted during its recent full-year financial results, Sony’s Game & Network Services segment brought in 17.8 percent more revenue compared to the previous year. The company anticipates falling hardware sales this year but expects that to be offset by more people buying games and taking out PlayStation Plus subscriptions.

The Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki reported some of what Kodera said on Twitter. The CEO announced that Sony wants to create more first-party exclusives while expanding successful IPs and refreshing existing ones.

SIE chief Kodera: You can expect more exclusive titles for PS platforms!

— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 22, 2018

Kodera also mentioned the PlayStation VR, which, other than a recent price drop, doesn’t seem to get much coverage these days. The platform is growing, apparently, though not as quickly as the market expected. Sony's PlayStation Vue TV streaming service is also having a difficult time due to strong competition.

SIE head Kodera: PSVR growing, but industry's growth is below market expectations. PS Vue is facing harder-than-expected competitions. Vue and PSVR would aim for further growth with realistic outlook.

— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 22, 2018

With exclusives such as The Last of Us: part II and Days Gone on the way, there’s still plenty of life left in the console yet. Moreover, the PlayStation 4 Pro continues to be popular, thanks to price drops and new games that look amazing on the machine, such as God of War.

It’s unlikely that Kodera’s comments mean the PlayStation 5 could be here sooner than expected. The next-gen console's rumored specs arrived online last month, but a late 2019 or 2020 launch date still seems likely.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/74742-playstation-boss-ps4-entering-end-lifecycle.html

 

[gigantor21]

I don't see the PS5 coming out before 2020.

With the PS4 Pro and Scorpio around, they'll need at least 2 more years to offer a big leap in performance at a reasonable price.

 

[jpeters36]

I don't see the PS5 coming out before 2020.

With the PS4 Pro and Scorpio around, they'll need at least 2 more years to offer a big leap in performance at a reasonable price.

I think your perception is a bit off on performance, the CPU is a known bottle neck for the PS 4 pro and the fact they basicly jamed two of the same PS4 graphics chips in means its far behind current tech. while the one X is really irreverent in the conversation, is not the 4K box people hype it up to be.. I have made direct comparisons and many corners are cut to achieve a stable 4k experience from what equates to an outdated CPU and mid-tier gpu (about equal to the Radeon 580 a $200 card).. if the system is ready it will come out late 2019 and that has been the expectation of the stock holders for a while now

 

[Puiu]

I don't see the PS5 coming out before 2020.

With the PS4 Pro and Scorpio around, they'll need at least 2 more years to offer a big leap in performance at a reasonable price.

Actually they might launch in 2019 BECAUSE of Scorpio. The technology should be there: 7nm, Navi, Zen+, GDDR6/HBM2 --> at a more affordable price than today.

 

[Vulcanproject]

You need a mature 7nm node to be able to build a machine with a big enough performance advancement over Xbox One X. Assuming Sony still want an AMD SoC, which they will because of cost.

So when AMD have nailed down 7nm yields with Global Foundries and got their priority most profitable first wafers done and out the door (I.e their desktop graphics cards), then and only then will we see the manufacturing capacity to build enough 7nm games consoles.

The absolute earliest therefore is late 2019, most likely I would hazard a guess being more like 2020 to iron out all the creases.

PS4 has two years left as top dog, four and a half years in to the cycle. Final stretch.

 

[oldikes]

Honestly, xbox has this plan to "end console generations", but TBH I prefer console generations over incremental upgrades, half the appeal of a console is knowing it has at least 5 good years in it before its made completely obsolete.

Regardless, as soon as my xbox one dies, pretty sure any future investment will go into a PS5. 6 years was plenty of time for MS to get their stuff together.

 

[Scshadow]

Don't give me none of this PS5 ****. I just got a Pro. Its plenty of power.

 

[texasrattler]

Honestly, xbox has this plan to "end console generations", but TBH I prefer console generations over incremental upgrades, half the appeal of a console is knowing it has at least 5 good years in it before its made completely obsolete.

Regardless, as soon as my xbox one dies, pretty sure any future investment will go into a PS5. 6 years was plenty of time for MS to get their stuff together.

6 yrs is enough? LOL You do realize Sony has been doing this at least 10+ years longer. Funny how ppl said the same thing with the PS1 and we all know how that turned out.

Each console has there place. Some like Sony, some like MS. To each their own. Both aren't going anywhere any time soon.

 

[Nocturne]

Regardless it's a console, and optimization can only go so far before hitting a brick wall with cheap hardware. I wonder because, AMD, we won't see anything from the graphics side for awhile if they are ramping up for a console based product first which would make sense distributing fabs for specific products which they benefit alot. I can see an actual zen proc with maybe a Vega part in it, those saying Navi are just being stupid unrealistic.

 

[Gmn17]

20/11/20 PS5

 

[Puiu]

Don't give me none of this PS5 ****. I just got a Pro. Its plenty of power.

You knew full well that it was going to happen when you bought it. You can just re-sell it later. Asking for almost decade long console life cycles is just unrealistic. Even the last console generation was several years too long.
PS: even the Xboxox is not powerful enough.
PS2: developers won't abandon such a big user-base. the PS5 games should be PS4 compatible for at least the first few years.

 

[NightAntilli]

The issue with PlayStation is that they generally launch strong, or at least are strong within the first two years, and then things go downhill from there. Xbox is the opposite, crappy launch, but over the years things only get better.

 

[Burty117]

The issue with PlayStation is that they generally launch strong, or at least are strong within the first two years, and then things go downhill from there. Xbox is the opposite, crappy launch, but over the years things only get better.

What are you smoking?

Xbox One = Absolutely terrible launch followed by lack of games for it's entire life span thus far.
PS4 = Strong launch with not great games followed by a smoldering of fantastic games with even more planned for the next year or two.

 

[NightAntilli]

What are you smoking?

Xbox One = Absolutely terrible launch followed by lack of games for it's entire life span thus far.
PS4 = Strong launch with not great games followed by a smoldering of fantastic games with even more planned for the next year or two.

If you look at exclusives only, sure. But there are more things at play. Why do people have such short memories? Look at X360 and PS3 (heavily simplified).
before;
PS3 had backwards compatibility
X360 had RROD.
after;
PS3 lost backwards compatibility.
X360 RROD was fixed

For current gen (again, heavily simplified);
Xbox One had the whole constantly online & Kinect issue, with a messy user interface
PS4 had all advantages pretty much
now;
Xbox One has great backwards compatibility for two gens for free, 4 free games each month (XBL Gold Member only), subscriptions service that includes newest releases, and the option to play certain games on PC with Play Anywhere.
PS4 requires you to pay in order to play older games, 2 free games each month (PSN Plus members only), has inferior media support.

It's not so much that the PlayStation gets "worse", but their long term support dwindles compared to the Xbox. I agree that the Xbox has an issue with exclusives... But... You know why Xbox One barely has any? Because no one bought the likes of Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and so on. No one rewarded Microsoft for those games. People only bought shooters (Halo, Gears, COD) and Forza. All the other games were overshadowed and didn't bring in much money, so basically they were ditched. Is it a point of improvement for the Xbox now? For sure. But gamers themselves are to blame really.

If you only care about exclusive games, or VR, then PS4 pro wins, no argument. But if you look at the whole package, while the PS4 was better initially, the Xbox One S is a better deal in many ways, and the Xbox One X is a better deal than the PS4 Pro in even more ways. Not that you can really go wrong with the PS4 by the way. But if I would have to pick right now, I'd pick the Xbox One X.

 

[Burty117]

If you only care about exclusive games, or VR, then PS4 pro wins, no argument. But if you look at the whole package, while the PS4 was better initially, the Xbox One S is a better deal in many ways, and the Xbox One X is a better deal than the PS4 Pro in even more ways. Not that you can really go wrong with the PS4 by the way. But if I would have to pick right now, I'd pick the Xbox One X.

I think sales numbers are on my side here. No one cares if their console can play music from Spotify, people buy a GAMES console to play GAMES. Simple, sweet, delicious. Microsoft forgot what the fundamental's of a GAMES console are and concentrated on everything else but GAMES.

And you cannot say:

You know why Xbox One barely has any? Because no one bought the likes of Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and so on. No one rewarded Microsoft for those games. People only bought shooters (Halo, Gears, COD) and Forza. All the other games were overshadowed and didn't bring in much money, so basically they were ditched. Is it a point of improvement for the Xbox now? For sure. But gamers themselves are to blame really.

You not only sound like a Fanboy here, what you're saying is frankly, ridiculous. Good games get forgotten about all the time, Gamers are NOT to blame for Xbox's lack of decent games. It's Microsoft's fault for lack of games. Gamers don't reward Microsoft for actually making a good game. They've been spending all their money on Kinect, 4K Blu-ray, backwards compatibility. That last one is probably due to lack of games so more forced that one.

I know it's a bit different in the US and people have a hard on for the Xbox but the sales figures clearly show people prefer the PS4 and it isn't for it's Media capability's...

 

[NightAntilli]

I think sales numbers are on my side here.

By that logic, the Wii was the best console ever.

No one cares if their console can play music from Spotify, people buy a GAMES console to play GAMES. Simple, sweet, delicious. Microsoft forgot what the fundamental's of a GAMES console are and concentrated on everything else but GAMES.

And you cannot say:

You not only sound like a Fanboy here,

The ones that are quickest to call others fanboys are more often than not fanboys themselves...
What is your issue? I even said you can't go wrong with the PS4. Can you say the same about the Xbox? Bet you can't, can you? Who's the fanboy again?

what you're saying is frankly, ridiculous. Good games get forgotten about all the time, Gamers are NOT to blame for Xbox's lack of decent games. It's Microsoft's fault for lack of games. Gamers don't reward Microsoft for actually making a good game. They've been spending all their money on Kinect, 4K Blu-ray, backwards compatibility. That last one is probably due to lack of games so more forced that one.

They've ditched Kinect, 4K is actually a nice thing to have, and backwards compatibility is what MANY users were asking for, considering the huge library of Xbox 360 games that people have. In fact, I always said I wouldn't buy an Xbox One until they add BC. That they added BC for the original Xbox is even nicer. It means we have BC all the way to the first console. No manufacturer can say that.

I know it's a bit different in the US and people have a hard on for the Xbox but the sales figures clearly show people prefer the PS4 and it isn't for it's Media capability's...

People "prefer" the PS4 because the Xbox was boycotted during the initial years due to the requirement of always being online and Kinect spying on people. That gave the PS4 an edge that couldn't ever be corrected. Microsoft made a huge mistake there...
And the follow-up years, people bought what their friends already have so they can play together, so PS4 retained the advantage. It's the same thing that happened to the Xbox 360 last gen vs the PS3. Despite the PS3 having better games and the Xbox 360 having RROD, due to the initial online superiority, everyone kept buying the Xbox simply because the initial wave was bigger. It has little to do with which console is actually better.

You can talk about the US having a hard on for the Xbox, but Japan's hard on for the Playstation has no comparison at all.

 

[Burty117]

By that logic, the Wii was the best console ever.

It was a pretty good console, also, interesting you didn't say PS2, which is the best selling console of all time. Even the original PS1 outsold the Wii.

The ones that are quickest to call others fanboys are more often than not fanboys themselves...
What is your issue? I even said you can't go wrong with the PS4. Can you say the same about the Xbox? Bet you can't, can you? Who's the fanboy again?

But you CAN go wrong buying an Xbox. If you want to buy a GAMES consoles, to play GAMES, you get a PlayStation unless you really like your Halo. But if you want GAMES, you get a PS4.

Vice-versa, If you want to buy a 4K Blu-ray player, you get the Xbox as you also get Halo on the side. PS4 is the wrong choice for a 4k Blu-ray player.

They've ditched Kinect, 4K is actually a nice thing to have, and backwards compatibility is what MANY users were asking for, considering the huge library of Xbox 360 games that people have. In fact, I always said I wouldn't buy an Xbox One until they add BC. That they added BC for the original Xbox is even nicer. It means we have BC all the way to the first console. No manufacturer can say that.

They ditched the Kinect because nobody wanted to pay for it, I agree, 4k is nice to have. Backwards compatibility is what PlayStation fans are screaming for as well, unlike Microsoft, they have over double the user-base so they can squeeze more out with remakes and boxsets and PSN exclusives etc.. Microsoft wouldn't have gone to all the effort of Backwards Compatibility if they could have got away with it but when your user-base is half the size of the competitions, you kinda need to keep them happy and I'll admit, the reason I got an Xbox One was purely so I could play some classics.

People "prefer" the PS4 because the Xbox was boycotted during the initial years due to the requirement of always being online and Kinect spying on people. That gave the PS4 an edge that couldn't ever be corrected. Microsoft made a huge mistake there...

So we should "reward" Microsoft by buying games like Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and so on?

And the follow-up years, people bought what their friends already have so they can play together, so PS4 retained the advantage. It's the same thing that happened to the Xbox 360 last gen vs the PS3. Despite the PS3 having better games and the Xbox 360 having RROD.

Disagree, the PS3 struggled to get anything worth paying the extra for, it had the odd Gem at the start (Uncharted) but apart from that, All multi-platform games ran worse on the more expensive console for more than half it's life cycle. Even towards the end, it was just matching the Xbox. Sony learnt from it though, make the architecture simpler so people can effectively program for it. I myself, was shocked it sold as well as it did to be honest. I guess cutting the price of the console really helped from a quick google on the matter.

You can talk about the US having a hard on for the Xbox, but Japan's hard on for the Playstation has no comparison at all.

You're right, I thought Americans were less racist

 

[Danny101]

AMD has the contract at the moment. Will likely still have it for PS5. Given that PS4 is based upon AMD Bulldozer/Jaguar and AMD's flagship now is Ryzen+ (2) which is leaps ahead of Jaguar. I foresee that after Ryzen 3 is unveiled, work will began on PS5. 2020 or 2021 seems like the logical time frame for release.