Report: Sony will use the PS4 to fill the PS5 supply gap:
With the PlayStation 5 still hard to find at retail amid worldwide semiconductor shortages, Sony has canceled plans to discontinue the PS4, extending the system's life through 2022.
That's according to a Bloomberg News report citing "people familiar with the matter" who say that Sony told assembly partners that it had planned to discontinue the PS4 at the end of 2021. Instead, the company now plans this year to produce a million units of the older console, which uses less-advanced chips that are easier to source. Sony could adjust that number based on demand.
For context, the PS4 sold 1.7 million units in the first nine months of 2021, according to financial reports, compared to 8.9 million PS5 units in that same time.
Sony, for its part, denied that it had previously considered stopping PS4 production. "It is one of the best-selling consoles ever, and there is always crossover between generations," the company told Bloomberg. Indeed, the PS3 continued to be produced in Japan until 2017, over three years after the introduction of the PS4. And the PS2 was still in production at the end of 2012, missing an overlap with the PS4 production by just one year. In general, popular consoles can continue to sell for years after their successors launch.
At the risk of starting a console war, do any console users want to tell us why they chose their console and what makes it better than any another? Is it something that other family members use or is it just for you to relax with?
(Score: 4, Funny) by EJ on Sunday January 16 2022, @06:01AM
It just came with the distro. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 16 2022, @07:09AM
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/13/22881211/microsoft-discontinues-xbox-one-consoles-2020 [theverge.com]
Xbox One died and nobody noticed.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday January 16 2022, @07:38AM (2 children)
This is still kind of okay. I'll only start to get worried when Nintendo brings the original SNES back out to bridge the gap.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday January 16 2022, @10:03AM (1 child)
They did bring back the NES in 2018, but for classic and nostalgia, for a limited run. That said I'm not sure if it was an actual old one or if it was some FPGA implementation. There is also a NES mini. Still they are not really "gap" machines but more or nostalgia or retro.
Regarding the news in general. Isn't it a bit weird to keep making the last generation machine just cause you can't find part or keep the new generation in production? Is anyone going to be happy getting a PS4 when they wanted a PS5?
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Sunday January 16 2022, @02:05PM
Are you saying that you missed the SNES classic?
https://www.nintendo.com/super-nes-classic/ [nintendo.com]
Roughly the cost of the original! (includes some games)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 16 2022, @02:43PM (2 children)
It's basically useless. I got it because my friends had them, and once I got it they all immediately had kids. I used it as a media player for a while running Kodi, but the Raspberry Pi is just better at the task and uses less energy and takes up vastly less space. I've had it for five years and spent maybe 20 hours total actually playing games on it (mostly World of Tanks, a little Injustice 2). I'm just a PC gamer and modern consoles just don't feel right.
At least I got it used so it wasn't too expensive. I use my old NES more. Amusingly, my NES games are also worth more (I have a mint Mega Man with all the original packaging and papers plus a few less valuable games in similar condition).
(Score: 2) by EJ on Sunday January 16 2022, @03:19PM (1 child)
I don't even play my NES anymore. I...(I mean a GUY I know)...dumped all of my...(I mean HIS)...cartridges to ROMs to play on PC emulators. Not me. Him. Totally him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 16 2022, @05:44PM
That would be legal so you would not need to be cagey. Most people don't bother dumping and just pirate the ROMs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 16 2022, @06:11PM
As a Pure Unix Nerd, I don't have a Wintendo in the house.
I /did/ have a Sony NeWS MIPS workstation (a NWS-3410).. and when my romantic life collapsed and I was spending my nights alone, it was the obvious choice to get an original Playstation. It was quite satisfying to see the PSX BIOS was mostly libraries from 4.3BSD like the NeWS.. And much Solid Snake and Resident Evil was played.
Sony Entertainment meanwhile was doing rootkits on its Windows ports. Having hardware exclusive to games was the only option.
PS2 happened. PSP happened. PS3 happened (my favourite of the series).
PS4 happened... and it's "pay4friends" and DLC crap. The only game that's got serious time is No Man's Sky.
PS5 isn't happening. Paying full price, forever, for games only from Sony? Nah.