Five years after its 2020 launch, the PlayStation 5 is only halfway through its lifespan, according to comments made by Sony CFO Lin Tao during a press Q&A session in a recent earnings call (translated and transcribed by Investing.com).
“[The] PS5 has been growing in its install base,” Tao said. “Our view is that, compared to conventional console life cycles, and looking at the PS4 life cycle, it seems to be getting longer and longer. Especially the PS4, which was launched in 2013, and it’s been over a decade since then. There are many active users [still] enjoying the console, and they are enjoying the other consoles.”
This means Sony may try to avoid rushing out a PS6 too early so it doesn’t wind up in a similar situation, with its user base spread out across multiple consoles.
“From that perspective, we believe that the PS5 is only in the middle of the journey,” Tao continued. “We are really planning to expand it even further. As for the year-end sales season, and thinking about the customer lifetime value and also thinking about the profitability we want to promote so that we will expand the install base.”
Sony has spent the last five years promoting the PS5 (which ranges in price from $500 for a certified Sony-refurbished console to $750 for a brand-new PS5 Pro) and has effectively won the console war in the process. Since the PS5’s launch, Sony has sold a total of 84.3 million units.
But while Sony has been happy to share its sky-high PS5 sales figures, it’s keeping details on its next-gen console quiet for now.
“As for the future launches and successors, we are not in a position to make any comments about that,” Tao said.
