Sony’s president and CEO, John Kodera, has announced that the Playstation 4 will be entering its “final phase of its lifecycle” in 2018 despite increased success.
Sony’s most recent exclusive release, God of War, sold over 3.1 million copies in its first three days of release according to the Playstation Blog, making it the fastest selling Playstation exclusive in the console’s history.
Additionally, console sales for the PS4 have been on the rise. The console nabbed just shy of 20 million unit sales in 2017, racking its total sales up to around 76 million since the system debuted in 2013.
So why would such a successful console be coming to the end of its lifecycle? Kodera explained that “March 2021 would be when Sony looks beyond the PS4 and into the future.” He continued by emphasizing the focus on first-party titles and expanding the library of Playstation’s games for both new and existing franchises.
Sony will forever be in a constant battle with Nintendo and Microsoft as their ever-going “console wars” continue. For now, however, it seems like the Playstation 4 is in the lead, beating out the Nintendo Switch’s sales by almost 4 million units in 2017.
Regardless of the increase in sales numbers, Kodera warns shareholders and market analysts that sales will be on the decline for the next three years; however, when the next generation of PlayStation is introduced, Kodera promises there will be more focus on innovation, rebranding, franchising, and the creation of exclusive titles.
