The End Of The PS5 Lifecycle: Sony Already Starts Looking Towards The PlayStation 6

The PlayStation 5 was released in late 2020. It's been three and a half years since it first made its way to gamers' homes, and it's become a staple in the gaming industry since. Now, heading into the second half of its life cycle, Sony has made a few key claims of what they expect.

Sony Is Expecting Fewer PS5 Console Sales

Sony trims its revenue forecast after sales of its PlayStation 5 console came in lower than projected https://t.co/uSVt37MfPm

— Bloomberg (@business) February 14, 2024

Senior Vice President at Sony, Naomi Matsuoka, has revealed to shareholders that the PS5 is currently entering the second half of its life cycle. Because of this, Sony is expecting the sales of the console to drop.

Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter half of its life cycle. As such, we will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware to start falling from the next fiscal year.

The PlayStation 4 was released in 2013 and 7 years later, the PlayStation 5 was brought into the scene. Now what is 7 divided by 2? 3.5. The PS5 came out 3.5 years ago, so Sony seems to be following a similar cycle as with previous console releases.

Considering the slow start of the PS5, which wasn't really available for a while during the heights of the Covid-19 pandemic, it might stay around for a few more years than the previous console. We can probably expect the current generation to stick around for four to five more years, meaning that PS6 can be expected to release in 2028 or 2029.

While the sales of the PS5 seem to have been disappointing for Sony – in part due to hardware shortages – it is an extremely well-received console with constant updates and a decent library of games.

It's likely that a PS5 Pro will be released sometime after they released a slim version – before we get our first look at the PS6.