It’s not easy being a new fan of PlayStation right now. The PS5 console is hotter than the morning after dump of Durban curry on the porcelain throne, and has become a prime example of supply being unable to keep up with demand/bastard scalping. That doesn’t mean that the previous generation of consoles don’t have anything to offer, and if you’re picking up a PS4 right at the twilight of its career then you’ll still have access to a brilliant range of games.
The days of that console though, are definitely numbered. Over in Japan, fans spotted notices (Cheers Gematsu) that informed them of Sony’s decision to stop production of the the Glacier White PS4, the 1TB PS4 model, the Glacier White 1TB PS4 model, the 2TB PS4 model, and the Glacier White PS4 Pro. Going forward, Sony will only offer the PS4 500GB slim model in its jet black colour scheme, moving efforts towards production of the PS5 consoles which are currently rarer than living parents in a Batman comic book.
How will this affect stock of last-gen consoles outside of Japan? Back in December the official PlayStation Direct Store also put up a notice indicating that the PS4 Pro would no longer be available once current stock had run out, which shouldn’t be too surprising. The PS5 is a bigger jump forward for the company, is backwards compatible with most of the games from the PS4 era and it makes no sense to sell a last-gen console at the same price-point of the PS5 Digital Edition.
If you can even get your hands on one that is.
It’ll likely end up creating a better strategy for Sony: A bigger focus on the PS5 that will allow fans to finally get one of the machines without having to worry about bots buying up any available stock so that scalpers can make a mint, while offering an alternative entrypoint console from the last generation at a more economical price-point for families that can’t afford to drop that much coin on a device.
Plus that means that my hideous Call of Duty WW2 camouflage console is going to be worth big bucks in the near future, if I can find the damn thing.
Last Updated: January 6, 2021
