Sony let investors know that it expects new games to be released for the PlayStation 4 in 2024 as the focus shifts to the PlayStation 5.
Sony plans to release 50% of its games on PC and mobile by 2025.
The PlayStation 5 has been out for over a year and a half now, and the console continues to sell out worldwide regularly as soon as they arrive in stock. Sony is even promising to significantly increase PS5 production in the future to try to keep up with demand. However, there continues to be strong support for the PS4 with no evidence of a decline. Questions regarding the slow transition to a new generation of consoles even prompted Sony to respond, explaining that the PS4 would soon be gone.
Sony recently held an investor presentation focusing on growth comparisons between PS4 and PS5. In a part of the presentation titled “First-Party Portfolio Growth Model,” Sony compares its platform support over three different years: 2019, 2022, and 2025. The year 2019 shows PS4 accounts for 90% of Sony releases, with 10% on PC. 2022 sees about 35% of PS5 releases and another 35% on both PS4 and PS5. The 2025 chart shows that PS5 releases account for 50% of all Sony game releases, and no PS4 releases at all.
The clear message is that Sony is planning on not having a first-party release for the PS4 by fiscal 2025 at the latest. Since there’s no word on 2024, it’s entirely possible that Sony plans to discontinue support. PS4 support with first-party releases earlier than 2025. But beyond Sony’s own outlook, first-party releases for PS4 will end before 2025.
The chart depicts the direction of PlatStation in their future.
This does not mean that Sony will also reduce its investment in first-party development. A series of separate charts in the presentation show that Sony plans to drastically increase its investment in PlayStation studios. Not only are they ramping up their investment in existing products, but they also plan to at least double if not triple their investment in developing new products.
However, these first-party titles won’t be exclusive to PS5. Where in 2019 90% of new releases are on PS5 and 10% are on PC, by 2025 only 50% of new releases will be on PS5. The remaining releases will be for PC or mobile devices, with the respective share being around 30% to 20%.
Sony’s support for the PS4 is coming to an end as always. The change started with the launch of PS5, with both Demon’s Souls and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart being exclusives. PlayStation has offered major releases on both PS4 and PS5 since then, as with Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War Ragnarok is also said to support both platforms. Oddly enough, when Sony decides to make the full switch to PS5, it will be big news. PS4 support is not going away in silence, so expect further updates in the future.
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