Michael Pachter: Sony to Continue to Release PS4 Games Until 2023 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 August 2021 / 5,271 Views
Sony's first-party lineup of games since the PlayStation 5 launched has been a mix of cross-generation releases on the PS5 and PS4 and PS5 exclusives.
PS5 exclusives include Demon's Souls, Returnal, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, while cross-generation titles include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West, God of War sequel and Gran Turismo 7.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter in the latest Pachter Factor said he expects Sony to continue to release cross-generations through 2023 with more and more games becoming PS5 exclusives over time.
"They cannot really ignore the PS4 until they have enough PS5s to really cover enough units that they think they can make money on a game," Pachter said.
"You want to sell about 3 million units just to break even, and if you don’t have more than seven or eight million PS5s or 10 million PS5s out there, you just can't do it. There will always be exclusives early on in a console's cycle because they want people to buy the hardware. So it's chicken and egg, you know, you've got to sell some eggs at a discount to get people to buy the chicken.
"That's really what goes on on the exclusives. But on bigger games, if they want to sell 20 million units, they've got to make it on old and new consoles. Truthfully, I think they’ll support the PS4 through 2023. Ten years. So I think you’ll probably start to see more exclusives in 2022, and probably all exclusives in 2023."
Sony has confirmed the PlayStation 5 sales surpassed 10 million units worldwide as of July 18. The PS5 is the fastest-selling console in PlayStation history and is outpacing the sales of its predecessor, the PlayStation 4.
The PlayStation 4 has sold over 116 million units worldwide, according to VGChartz estimates.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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10 year cycle of support with first party games. That's clear and fully understandable.
Wait, if pachter said it, does that mean Sony is done with the ps4 this year or did he actually say something that wasn't completely wrong?
His quote says they'll be all PS5 exclusive in 2023.
His quote seems inconsistent, and that is mirrored (without comment) by title/body ignoring the distinction of "until" vs "through". Pachter's quote "Truthfully, I think they’ll support the PS4 through 2023. ...So I think you’ll probably (see) all (PS5) exclusives in 2023." Which isn't possible, if 2023 is all exclusives, then PS4 isn't being supported.
Just goes to show the low standards at play, Pachter gets media play regardless if he makes sense.
In this case, I would assume this is just a simple human error. But, you're right that the guy seems to just throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks.
Well considering they have MLB sure by 2023 there will still be crossgen released by Sony, now if you are thinking about the major AAAs we can thank Patcher to ensure this will be the last year of crossgen.
Well, well, well…. how the turntables
(Office joke)
Nintendo waited until the Switch was around 30 million before cutting the 3DS. Maybe Sony is doing the same with the PS5, which makes sense.
I mean, he's not wrong and this is one of the few times that I see myself agreeing with him.
Great news
Didn't Sony say this already? We know of 3 Playstation titles are cross-gen. My guess is those games plus The Show will probably be cross-gen. Unless one of those 3-4 titles is delayed to 2023, I don't see Sony announcing any new titles as cross-gen, but anything's possible.
This guy is so funny!
PS3 ended production about 10 years after launch.
Should be able to hit 40m+ by early 2023, right?
