Despite being such a turbulent year for most, 2020 was a big year for video games overall. Of course, there were unavoidable pandemic-related delays, but it was also the year when major announcements were revealed and titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons were released.
Asides from these, though, probably one of the major happenings in the video game world was the release of the most recent next-generation consoles, namely the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
More often than not, companies usually make sure that the transition from one console generation to the next is seamless. They do this by releasing new titles meant for the next-generation consoles onto the last-generation ones as well, so that gamers who don’t have the new consoles won’t feel alienated or abandoned.
However, it appears that the PlayStation 5 hasn’t been selling that well in Japan, which has caused Sony to quickly implement a change of plans.
Japanese gaming news site GameWatch has recently revealed that Sony has officially terminated the production of all PlayStation 4 models in Japan except for the Jet Black 500GB PS4 Slim. No wonder there’s a glaring lack of PlayStation 4 Pro stock on the company’s online store.
Given the current situation, we can definitely understand why Sony decided to phase out its other older consoles in favor of the newer generation, and we can’t blame it for that. However, what we don’t understand is why the company decided to phase out the PlayStation 4 Pro as well, seeing as it’s essentially the premium version of the base PlayStation 4.
GameWatch’s report states that after Sony successfully sells off all the models of the discontinued PS4’s in Japan, gamers will no longer be able to purchase them either online or at brick-and-mortar establishments. There’s no official reason just yet as to why Sony discontinued the PlayStation 4 Pro as well, but some speculate that it’s because of its price tag.
The PlayStation 4 Pro is priced at $400, which is basically how much the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition costs. GameWatch goes on to say that the Jet Black 500GB PS4 Slim model is the only exception and nothing else. As a matter of fact, even the Glacial White PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro models will be completely phased out once Sony sells them all.
While these product terminations are only officially confirmed for Japan, it makes us wonder if the same thing will happen to the West and other parts of the globe. We’ll definitely have to keep a lookout for any information regarding this.
This also brings us to another point: will scalpers start grabbing this opportunity to sell the discontinued products at incredibly overpriced rates? Probably. After all, the same thing happened with the PS5, albeit in completely different circumstances.
Even though gamers have been having an extremely hard time trying to get their hands on either the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X/S, Sony’s stock prices have been steadily increasing due to the next-generation consoles’ popularity.
Since Sony has already begun its discontinuation campaign, we’ll just have to wait and see how this decision will impact Japan’s PS5 sales as well as the company itself.
