Sony Kills PS4 Pro Production To Make Room For Red Hot PlayStation 5
The company, however, is taking steps to free up production capacity to get more PlayStation 5 units to customers. Sony Japan has confirmed that it is ending production of the previous generation PlayStation 4 Pro. This is the most potent version of the of the PlayStation that was available for customers to purchase prior to the arrival of the PlayStation 5.
That would explain why the PlayStation 4 Pro is out of stock just about everywhere online. We checked out typical online destinations like Best Buy, Amazon, and Target and found that the console was unavailable to purchase new. Best Buy and Amazon are both selling the consoles used, but that's not ideal for many customers who want the fresh-out-of-the-box experience without someone else's greasy fingerprints all over the console and controller.
Sony is currently only producing a single SKU of its previous generation console: the PlayStation 4 Slim. But even that console seems to be out of stock at most retailers now if we take a quick look at NowInStock.com.
We reported back in late December that Sony shipped 3.4 million PlayStation 5 consoles during its first 4 weeks of availability. However, Sony is looking to boost production to as many as 18 million units for the full 2021 calendar year.
The PlayStation 5 is currently available in versions; the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition is the base system (without a Blu-ray drive) and costs $399. The standard PlayStation 5 includes the Blu-ray drive and has an MSRP of $499. The Blu-ray drive is the only major hardware spec that separates the two consoles.
