Nearly two years after the launch of the current console generation, Sony has shared plans to stop making PS4 games after 2025.
While sharing financial expectations for the PS5 , PC and other platforms, a slide titled “Evolving Shape of First-Party Portfolio” was shown during Sony’s recent briefing to investor relations(opens in new tab)† The slide also includes a detailed percentage breakdown of releases by platform. By the year 2025, the PS4 was not mentioned at all. This creates the idea that Sony will have finalized support for the console by then.
We’ve seen a number of games released across multiple platforms since the arrival of the PS5. At launch, both Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure were released for PS4 and PS5. In the current year, that lineup expands with Horizon Forbidden West and Gran Turismo 7 . God of War Ragnarok will be (as far as we know) the last major cross-gen game.
For now, Sony will continue production of the PS4 in 2022 . The PS4 Pro is no longer in production, but Sony’s previous-generation bestseller isn’t going away just yet. Microsoft has a different strategy: in 2020, the company stopped production(opens in new tab)from Xbox One(opens in new tab)consoles.
Support for PS4 is gradually being phased out
Before the PS5 launched, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan told GamesIndustry.biz(opens in new tab)that ”we’ve always said we believe in generations.” Outside of Sackboy and Spider-Man, the first console year has largely lived up to this. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart , Returnal , Destruction AllStars and the Demon’s Souls remake(opens in new tab)are all major games released exclusively on the new hardware.
Compared to Sony, Microsoft has huge cross-generation support between Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S. Exclusives for the new generation like Microsoft Flight Simulator(opens in new tab)appear gradually. Still, the big games like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 still arrived on both generations last year.
This makes PlayStation’s approach feel more inconsistent. With even more confirmations of PS5 exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2(opens in new tab)seems to be wrapping up the lineup of cross-gen games. However, we don’t know if Sony has any other PS4 releases in store after Ragnarok.