All good things must come to an end, including the PlayStation 4’s life cycle

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Although it’s still going strong, the PlayStation 4 is nearing the final phase of its life cycle, according to PlayStation CEO John Kodera. Because of this, Sony is now focusing on the online services and subscriptions that are tied to the platform, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki.

PS chief Kodera: PS4 is entering final phase of its life cycle, which would have negative impact to the unit, but recurring revenue via membership services etc should cushion some of that.

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) May 22, 2018

Just because the PS4 is nearing the end, doesn’t mean a new box is coming any time soon. During his address at this week’s Sony Investor Day, Kodera suggested we won’t be seeing the PS4 successor until at least 2021, noting that the PlayStation division aims to “mitigate the impact of platform lifecycle compared to the past cycle and stabilize profit structure.”

As Polygon explains:

In other words, Sony hopes that it has built up PlayStation software and services to the point that they can outweigh the negative impact of declining hardware sales. That’s in contrast to the PlayStation 3 era, where profits were more closely tied to unit sales. In fact, Kodera’s final slide pointed to something that has become a trend across the video game industry as more of it moves online: focusing on user growth instead of hardware sales.

First introduced in 2013, the PlayStation 4 (PS4) is Sony’s eighth-generation home video game console. It competes with Nintendo’s Switch and Microsoft’s Xbox One.

As of March 31, Sony has sold 79.8 million PS4 consoles. There are now 80 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network, up from 70 million a year ago.

Okay, PS4 users. What do you want to see on the next Sony home video console? Let us know below.

In other PlayStation 4 news, God of War is Sony’s fastest selling game ever, while sales for the console have already started to slow down although profits are sound. Plus, learn the easiest way to connect your PlayStation 4 to your smartphone or tablet.

Is 2021 too far away or do you feel that is a good time frame for a new console from Sony? Let us know in the comments.

Bryan M. Wolfe

Bryan considers himself a well-rounded techie, having written articles for MakeUseOf, KnowTechie, AppAdvice, iDownload Blog. When he's not writing, he's being a single dad and rooting for his alma mater, Penn State, or cheering on the Patriots.