According to the latest investor presentation from Sony, the company seems to have plans to end support for the PlayStation 4 by 2025. Despite the chip shortages and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic causing a shortage of PlayStation 5 consoles, the company seems confident in pursuing it as their platform. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has expressed confidence that the PlayStation 5 will prove to be the company's "biggest platform."
According to game designer and lead architect Mark Cerny, the PlayStation 3's successor was conceived as far back as 2008.
The PlayStation 4 was unveiled in 2013, and saw the release of incredible titles such as "Bloodborne," "Uncharted 4," and Insomniac's "Spider-Man" as well as some duds like "Godzilla," "Knack," and "The Order 1886." It became the definitive bestseller of the eighth generation of video game consoles.
The big reveal at E3 2013
In its 2013 E3 reveal, Microsoft had largely done most of the work for Sony with the Xbox One's disastrous presentation. A common point of contention was its absurd anti-consumer features such as the inability to play offline, the inability to share games, and the requirement of the Kinect peripheral.
Really, all Sony had to do was just name a price, a release date, and show off some games, but they went for the jugglar.
In what's become one of the most talked about moments in E3 history, Sony released a satirical instructional video on how to share games on the PlayStation 4. The video consisted of Former SIE President Shuhei Yoshida handing a copy of "Killzone Shadow Fall" to Vice President Adam Boyles, who simply smiles and responds, "Thanks."
PlayStation Pro
In September 7th, 2016, Sony revealed a much sleeker model of the console dubbed the "Slim" – many of which came bundled with copies of "Uncharted 4 A Thief's End." This would eventually phase out the original model.
The same year, Sony announced the release of the PlayStation Pro which upgraded the system to support 4K and more robust VR.
State Of Play 2022
Since the Covid-19 pandemic seems to show no signs of slowing down, the Electronic Software Association made the decision to cancel both an in-person or digital E3 event for 2022. In what seems to be a response to this, several companies such as 505 Games, Xbox, and PlayStation have scheduled their own digital press events in the month of June.
According to a tweet from PlayStation below, Sony's 2022 State of Play is slated to be broadcast on June 2 at 3:00 PT and 6:00 ET.
State of Play returns next week! Tune in live at 3pm PT on June 2 for reveals, announcements, and more: https://t.co/3lqi9GL9VZ pic.twitter.com/NLLTAgvgLY
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) May 27, 2022
Many critics and fans are speculating as to what plans the company has in store. The official PlayStation blog sent out the following statement on their site, "We’ll have some exciting reveals from our third-party partners, plus a sneak peek at several games in development for PlayStation VR2." This statement follows the recent purchases of third party developers from rival company Microsoft such as Bethesda and Activision.