One Retailer Hints At The PS4 Being Discontinued

I’ve said it time and time again: The greatest console of all time is the PlayStation 2. Of course, it is closely followed by the greatest handheld of all time, the entire Nintendo DS family (along with DS & DSi-3DS). Both of which had a decade (plus) long run as they outsold every other console available through history. Both consoles have everlasting longevity, with nostalgia clouding the judgment of crusty old men such as myself. Well, we’re just under two months into the 9th generation of gaming with the release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and the 8th is being taken off of life support.

Of course, last year in the middle of the Summer, Microsoft discontinued the production of Xbox One X and One S All-Digital edition, with the original Xbox One from 2013 being discontinued way back in 2016. Afterward the only Xbox One console still in production was the Xbox One S, with the disk drive. Now it seems the same is coming to the PS4 range of consoles too. As a Twitter user, @Cheesemeister3K notes (thank you VGC) in a translation of an image of a Japanese store shelf: “Dear customers: due to the manufacturer ending production, the following products will not be restocked.”

“Dear customers: due to the manufacturer ending production, the following products will not be restocked.”
・PS4 500GB Glacier White
・PS4 1TB Jet Black
・PS4 1TB Glacier White
・PS4 2TB Jet Black
・PS4 Pro 1TB Glacier White pic.twitter.com/nub3lxcJGX

— Cheesemeister (@Cheesemeister3k) January 3, 2021

It notes that several variants in the PS4 range, including the PS4 Pro 1TB in white, are set to no longer be restocked. Obviously, this suggests that the consoles are about to be/are being discontinued currently. However, there is no official word from the company themselves on the PS4 models being pulled from production.

In September of 2020, the SIE President and CEO said to The Washington Post, “The PS4 community will continue to be incredibly important to us for three or four years.” He went on to say, “Many will transition to PS5, we hope if we do our job well, but tens of millions will still be engaged with the PS4.” That would suggest that the PS4 will be supported by the company until 2024. As of September, according to gamesindustry.biz in October, the PS4 had shipped a total of 114-million units. Personally, I’ve also seen friends go out and purchase the PS4 in the past year or so. So, of course, there are indeed still some on the search for the console as the PS5 has now been released.

Since the release of the PS5 (and Xbox Series X/S), the console(s) has been in high demand and currently low stock, resulting in many prospective buyers still waiting almost two-months following the release for their purchase. It does seem to be a strange move to pull as the present COVID-19 pandemic slowed production of the next-generation consoles throughout last year. This may also put Sony in a position of no purchasable consoles in select regions at some points throughout this year. With such a possibly on Sony’s horizon, it may not sound too sweet that several industry analysts told gamesindustry.biz that the Nintendo Switch will (once again) dominate 2021. I’d have to agree if the PS5’s stagnated release continues.