PS5 Is Entering the Latter Stage of Its Life Cycle (2024)

The PlayStation 5 has entered the second half of its life cycle, according to several senior Sony officials. Apart from hinting at how much longer the ninth console generation will last, the Japanese gaming giant also just cut its PS5 sales forecast, in addition to confirming some previously considered plans that might help it fund further acquisitions.

Since its late 2020 debut, the PS5 has been outselling the Xbox Series X/S two-to-one. And while the system's lifetime shipments hit 54.8 million units as of December 31, its last-quarter performance still fell short of internal expectations. Sony has consequently cut its PS5 sales forecast for its fiscal year 2023, which ends in March 2024, from 25 million to 21 million units. The move was announced as part of the group's latest consolidated financial report on February 14.

PS5 Sales Are Slowing Down Because the Console Is Already Halfway Through Its Life Cycle

That detailed overview of the company's last-quarter performance saw Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki assert that the PS5 has already entered "the latter half" of its life cycle. The remark was offered as part of the executive's explanation for why the console's sales were slowing down. Sony SVP Naomi Matsuoka echoed a similar sentiment, describing the ninth-generation console as being in the "latter stage of its life cycle," Bloomberg reports. Both statements indicate that the PS6 is targeting a release no later than 2028.

2024 Will Be a Weak Year For Existing PlayStation Franchises

Totoki's overview of the company's near-future prospects saw the CFO confirm that no new "major" titles from existing PlayStation franchises will be released during the coming fiscal year, which runs from April 2024 to March 2025. Sony hence won't have an immediate first-party heavy-hitter that could follow up on the incredible critical success of The Last of Us 2 Remastered, which debuted on January 19.

Sony Is Planning Fewer Near-Term Acquisitions, Yet It's Still Raising Money

Sony has been on an acquisition spree since 2021, having most recently purchased U.S. headphone manufacturer Audeze and British AI company iSIZE. But the conglomerate does not intend to maintain that M&A momentum for much longer, with Totoki stating that the group's "burden of acquisition-related costs" will ease throughout the following fiscal year.

Despite the projected slowdown in acquisition activity, Sony just confirmed a fairly aggressive attempt at raising funds in the form of a partial spin-off of its financial services business, Sony Financial Group. The company will retain a minority stake (of less than 20%) in the operation and list the rest on an as-of-yet-unspecified stock exchange in October 2025. The move has been under consideration since at least 2023, with one previous report on the matter indicating that the partial spin-off was meant to fund future Sony acquisitions. An SFG IPO marks a major reversal of strategy on Sony's part, as this business was already public once before until the group took it private in 2020.

Source: Sony

Sony PlayStation 5

The Sony PlayStation 5 console is one of the most popular gaming machines currently with a fast SSD, a custom AMD APU, and 16GB of GDDR6 console memory, making it one of the best options on the market. It also happens to have a surprising number of console exclusives and currently trades at a discount at multiple retailers nationwide.

4K Capabilities

Yes, Up to 4K 120Hz

Power Source

AC Power

What's Included

Console, HDMI Cable, Controller, A/C Power, Stand, Documentation

Brand

Sony PlayStation

Processing Power

Up to 10.3 TFLOPS

Storage

825GB

CPU

Custom 8-Core Zen 2

Battery

Built-in with the controller

Weight

12 pounds

RAM

16GB GDDR6

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