We don’t know for sure and we’re not going to be one of those sites that pretends it does. But with Sony suggesting the PlayStation 4 is nearing the end of the road and by looking back at past release dates, we can make an educated guess.
Speaking at Sony’s corporate strategy meeting this week, the company’s Entertainment CEO John Kodera reportedly said that the PlayStation 4 was close to retirement.
PS chief Kodera: PS4 is entering final phase of its life cycle, which would have negative impact to the unit, but recurring revenue via membership services etc should cushion some of that.
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 22, 2018
If you look at the timeline of PlayStation releases over the years, we’re definitely entering the window for a console refresh (dates shown are European release dates):
| Console | Launch date | Gap between consoles |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation | Sept 1995 | N/A |
| PlayStation 2 | Nov 2000 | 5 yrs 2 mths |
| PlayStation 3 | Sep 2006 | 5 years 10 mths |
| PlayStation 4 | Nov 2013 | 7 years 2 mths |
The average gap between console releases is around six years, and given that Sony always releases new consoles in the autumn to cash in on the lucrative Christmas market, we’d put our money on the PlayStation 5 being launched in autumn 2019. It certainly won’t be released this autumn, as games developers need a run-up to the launch of a new console and it would be public knowledge by now. Sony has already said there won’t be any new hardware announcements at this year’s E3 games show, where consoles are normally announced.
Does that mean you shouldn’t invest in a PlayStation 4 now? Not necessarily. The console’s down to around £250 now and new consoles always take a while to bed in. You’re probably going to get at least another two years of good use out of a PS4 if you bought one now, maybe even longer.
Now read this: How do I fix a PlayStation 4 corrupted data error?
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