Sony says the PS4 has entered the final stage of its life cycle
During the Sony Investor Relations Day 2018 event in Tokyo earlier today, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO John Kodera said that the PlayStation 4 is now entering the final phase of its life cycle. Originally released in North America and Europe in November 2013 and Japan in February 2014, the PlayStation 4 has shipped more than 79 million units as of the end of March.
Although he said that would have an impact on sales, he was also quick to point out the recurring revenue received from the PlayStation Network and membership services such as PlayStation Plus would diminish this problem. This is important because PSN has been highly profitable for the company, and it helped them generate more revenue than all of Nintendo during their fiscal year that ended in March 2016.
While Sony continues to invest in first-party, they will be focusing more on growing their existing licenses and developing them into franchises (read: sequels) in order to bolster their successful IPs. For this upcoming Fiscal Year (April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019), they will further strengthen their library, leverage their install base, and continue to improve their overall revenue.
There have been a lot of rumors around how the company plans on releasing a new console soon since the PlayStation Pro was only meant as a stepping stone, though Sony also clarified we'd see no new hardware at E3.
How do you all feel about Sony stating that the PlayStation 4 has entered the final phase of its life cycle?