Sony Still Quiet On PS5 Pro After Slashing PS5 Sales Target
Signs of a console stagnation are beginning to set in as current-generation hardware continues to age. As such, Sony now expects to sell four million fewer PlayStation 5 consoles for its current fiscal year (which ends next month) than previously projected, with the revised forecast coming after PS5 sales last quarter fell short of the company's target goal. Sony now expects to cap off its fiscal 2023 with 21 million PS5 shipments, down from its previous forecast of 25 million.
On the positive side, nobody is going to consider the PS5 a failure. The console has racked up 50 million cumulative unit sales since releasing in November 2020, and outsold Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S by 3-to-1 in 2023. It's also seen some minor revisions since launch, most notably a slimmer redesign that's unofficially called the PS5 Slim.
Cumulative accolades aside, the PS5 is nearing the end of the road. Sony's senior vice president Naomi Matsuoka acknowledged as much in a statement to Bloomberg.
"Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle. As such, we will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware will start falling from the next fiscal year," Matsuoka said.
Additionally, Sony noted in its latest earnings report (PDF) that it is not planning to release any major franchise titles during its next fiscal year.
Incidentally, there's still no mention of a PS5 Pro, let alone a PS6. The strategy appears a little different this time around. After launching the PlayStation 4 in November 2013, Sony later introduced both a PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro, just shy of three years later. And seven years elapsed between the PS4 and PS5.
Based on that time frame, it's still a little early to think about the PS6, but not so for an anticipated PS5 Pro refresh, which didn't manifest alongside the PS5 Slim. Sony is still very much mum about a PS5 Pro, though by saying the PS5 is at the latter stage of its life cycle, it's fair to speculate that an unannounced PS5 Pro is not far in the distance (assuming it doesn't skip the PS5 Pro and jump straight to the PS6).
Sony is not the only one contending with console stagnation, either. Sales of Nintendo's hugely popular Switch family have slowed after steadily climbing and eventually peaking in 2020, and it's widely anticipated that a Switch 2 will launch sometime later this year.
