The PS5 is rapidly approaching the “latter stage of its life cycle” according to Sony's senior vice president, Naomi Matsuoka. This comment could hint at the existence of the PS5 Pro, or perhaps even the arrival of the inevitable PS6 sooner than expected.
Sony has released its latest set of financial reports covering the third quarter of its current fiscal year, and the company has revised its initial sales forecast (per Bloomberg and The Verge).
The Japanese tech giant now expects to sell 21 million consoles through March 31, 2024, a drop from the 25 million units it had originally hoped to shift during its current fiscal year. This shortfall comes despite the PS5 seeing its first major discount at various global retailers during last year’s seasonal shopping period.
However, the report doesn’t necessarily make for bleak reading for PlayStation. Gaming revenue increased by some 16% (at more than $9 billion), and more PS5 consoles were sold overall compared to the same quarter of the previous year (8.2m up from 6.3m). The launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which was announced to have sold more than 10 million copies, may have contributed to the increased sales, even if the bump was less than anticipated.
Alongside confirming that the PS5 will enter the “latter stage of its life cycle” as it approaches its fourth birthday in November, Matsuoka also said, “We will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware will start falling from the next fiscal year.”
Sony's expectation that it will sell fewer PS5 consoles moving forward could also be a subtle indication that the much-rumored, but currently unannounced, PS5 Pro is on the horizon. After all, a refreshed version of the PS5 console would certainly impact sales of the current model. There’s a huge amount of speculation about a PS5 Pro console right now, with multiple credible sources suggesting it's in the works.
Perhaps the most widely circulated rumor is that the PS5 Pro will launch in 2024, but unverified tipsters have also claimed to have leaked its specs and a potentially game-changing new feature. Even with so much smoke, Sony has remained tight-lipped and did not comment on the PS5 Pro during this latest set of reports. For now, the PS5 Pro remains a hypothetical console that hasn’t been officially confirmed as real.
The other way of reading Matsuoka’s comments would be to look towards the PS6. The PS5’s full successor is pretty much an inevitability, and just last week a YouTuber claimed to know “with 100% certainty” that Sony was continuing its partnership with AMD on its next flagship console, stoking the interest of the PlayStation community.
However, don’t expect the PS6 to arrive on the scene for a while yet. Documents released during the FTC's case against Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition suggested Sony doesn’t plan on beginning the next generation of PlayStation hardware until at least after 2027. So the PS5 seeming has at least another three years of being Sony’s main hardware. However, it could soon have a more powerful sibling to share the spotlight with as the PS5 Pro may arrive on the scene shortly.
