In a recent financial update, Sony revealed that there will be no major first-party games until April 2025 at the earliest.
While Sony’s earnings call hasn’t given much hope to fans for any big title releases in the next financial year, it has shed some light on their business direction, a failed sales target, and the future of the PS5; read on below for more details.
Why Won’t Sony Be Releasing Any Major First-Party Games Until April 2025?
Sony won’t be releasing any major first-party games, as it will be focusing its efforts on live service games until the end of the next financial year, ending March 31, 2025. Hiroki Totoki, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Group, stated: “Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live-service games.”
Totoki went on to say, “While major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War Ragnarok and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
This revelation presumably comes off the back of Sony’s lower-than-anticipated PS5 console sales, leading them to adjust their target from 25 million units down to 21 million units. However, Sony predicts this will impact the next financial year: “We expect profit from first-party software to decrease slightly from this fiscal year due to the impact of the decrease in sales.”
Is the PS5 at the End of its Lifecycle?
The PlayStation 5 isn’t coming to its end, but it’s in the second half of its lifestyle. Naomi Matsuoka, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Senior Vice President, broke this news during the same earnings call: “Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle.”
This is somewhat expected as the PS5 is entering its fourth year in 2024. The lifecycle of Sony consoles has previously been approximately 6-7 years, with the release dates being PlayStation: 1994, PlayStation 2: 2000, PlayStation 3: 2006, PlayStation 4: 2013, and PlayStation 5: 2020.
When pressed on this comment, the team at Sony Interactive Entertainment declined to give further details on a PS6 or an expected release date. However, if we were to speculate based on what we’ve seen before, a 2026-2027 release seems possible.