Sony Japan has confirmed its discontinuing production of several models of the PlayStation 4 console on retail. The news comes shortly after rumors flew around about the game company doing so. However, all but one model will be getting axed in Japan.

There can only be one

Sony has discontinued all models for the PS4 Pro and all models except one for the PS4 Slim, the 500 GB Jet Black "slim." The decision was made for the sake of prioritizing the PlayStation 5, Sony's current console that was launched back in December 2020.

Sony's regular PS4 console model was already discontinued long before then as it was being phased out by the PS4 Slim model. Currently, there is no word on if this move will affect supplies outside the country.

PS4 and PS5 vs Coronavirus

Sony's current console, the PS5 is having a pretty rough race since it came out of the gate due to production lines and retail being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The respiratory illness has been impacting the world and its industries since it emerged from China back in 2019 and is likely the reason behind the discontinuation of the PS4.

Following the pandemic, Sony and other companies have had to restructure their business operations ranging from production to distribution.

Sony's competitor Microsoft, for example, had discontinued its console the Xbox One X model back in July 2020 to "focus resources" into its new console the Xbox Series X, and its upcoming cloud service Project xCloud. The western tech giant described the move to stop production as "a natural step."

However, despite Covid-19 pandemic concerns, the PS5 could be well on its way to surpassing its predecessor in sales. In its first two weeks on the market, the PS5 had surpassed the PS4's 2.1 million units sold in its first two weeks in 2013. This makes it the biggest console launch month in the country's history.

The PS4 legacy

Sony's PS4 console was launched in North America, Europe, and Australia in November 2013, and later in Japan in February the following year.

Its competitor Microsoft launched the Xbox One in the Western territories around the same period but got a headstart in Japan by launching in September that same year.

On September 13, 2016, Sony launched the PS4 Slim model which also phased out the original model.

Later on November 10, 2016, Sony would launch the PS4 Pro, a high-end model capable of running games at 4K resolution; some requiring resolution upscaling while others ran natively. In response, its competitor Microsoft launched the Xbox One X on November 7, 2017, with similar capabilities.

Since launching the PS4 in 2013, Sony has sold 113 million units of the console globally, making it the second best-selling home console in the world. The PS4 has also sold 1.18 billion units of software since its launch.