Sony PlayStation CEO John Kodera says the PS4, which has sold close to 80 million units, is nearing the end of its life cycle five years after it launched. Kodera made the comment at Sony Corporate's recent strategy meeting, which lets investors know the company's plans for the coming years.
The Japanese tech giant hasn't given up on the console though, as it still projects strong sales this year of 16 million units, however that is down from 19 million sold in the last 12 months. Various deals, sales and price drops, not to mention a consistent string on strong exclusive titles, including those yet to be released, has kept the PlayStation 4 popular among gamers.
Sony's PSN gaming network is also just as popular than ever, with some 80 million active users keeping revenue streams running along nicely.
However Kodera's comments do suggest a new console will be on the way. We know it won't be unveiled at E3 this year, but the CEO has also said the years from now through 2021 will be incredibly important for the company, saying it will "hunker down", presumably to work on the next big product. Previous comments from usually-reliable industry analyst Michael Pachter suggest the PS5 could be announced in 2019 and launched in 2020.
Sony may need to start rethinking its VR and video streaming service strategies though, as both the PlayStation VR and Vue streaming service have failed to meet the company's expectations. PlayStation VR is the most popular consumer VR headset, but sales have still fallen short of Sony's targets, and the Vue service has too much competition from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.