The PS4 is moving from success to success, with record breaking sales, and a frankly stellar lineup of games that seems to recall the glory of the PlayStation 2 days. With Sony just having released the PlayStation VR, PlayStation 4 Slim, and PlayStation 4 Pro last year, one would expect that we are slightly over half the PS4’s intended life cycle- however, one analyst disagrees.
Macquarie Research Analyst Damian Thong has stated that he expects Sony to launch the PlayStation 5 in 2018’s second half. Not just that, he expects it to be a rather powerful system too, with a 10 TFLOPs GPU that would far outstrip any other console on the market- including Microsoft’s Scorpio, which is due for release later this year.
“We see sustained profit growth in Game & Network Services. We forecast OP growth from ¥140bn in FY3/17 to ¥180bn in FY3/18, driven by expanding software sales and profits,” the analyst’s note reads. “A rising digital ratio and a higher mix of first-party titles will help margins – Horizon Zero Dawn, which launched on 28 Feb, looks to have had a good start with a Metacritic score of 88. While we have tempered expectations to account for rivalry with Microsoft/Xbox and PC gaming, we note that the success of PS VR (which has reached 915K units sold) highlights the health of the ecosystem. We expect Sony to launch a >10 TFLOPS ‘PS5’ in 2H18 to secure the installed base.”
Is this something you see happening? Next year seems to be a bit too soon to me- and if nothing else, it would make PlayStation 4 Pro owners really angry. On the other hand, it would be a hell of a way to make the Scorpio obsolete far before it can do any serious damage. What do you think? Let us know in the comments sections.
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