Sony is shutting down the production of most of the „old” consoles, while the new one doesn’t seem to bring the numbers expected in Japan.

We read on VGC that there is a possibility that multiple PlayStation 4 model’s production might be reaching the end. A photo was taken in a Japanese store with the following warning: „Dear customers: due to the manufacturer ending production, the following products will not be restocked: 500GB Glacier White, 1TB Jet Black, 1TB Glacier White, and 2TB Jet Black for the PlayStation 4 Slim, and the PlayStation 4 Pro‘s 1TB Glacier White.” VG247 adding that Sony Direct has also been pointing to an out of stock message with a page that the system will no longer be restocked.

And while putting together the article, it is now official: Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia has STOPPED the production of all PlayStation 4 models, except for the black 500 GB PlayStation 4 Slim! That means the PlayStation 4 Pro is dead!

With it, Sony wants to effectively minimize the PlayStation 4’s production to have more PlayStation 5 production capabilities, as that would get a bit more sales, but the demand has no supply. The Japanese Gamesindustry page says that while internationally, the PlayStation 5 is breaking records, the situation is the opposite in Japan. ACE Research Institute’s Hideki Yasuda’s article was translated on the ResetEra forums, and that’s how we learned that in Japan, only 240 thousand PlayStation 5 units (including both the PlayStation 5 Standard Edition and the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition) have been sold in the first six weeks, which is under ALL the other PlayStation platforms, except the PSP. Then again, we have a shortage of units.

Yasuda claims that this is evidence Sony no longer values the Japanese market, and it could lead to a „decisive decline” for the PlayStation brand in the country, and if this downhill slope continues, Yasuda predicts that the PlayStation 5 will sell only half the amount of the PlayStation 4 in Japan (which just hit ten million in the country – but even that’s far from the PS2‘s 20 million in Japan).

Jim Ryan, the president and CEO has moved the headquarters of Sony Interactive Entertainment to Japan, Bloomberg reported in November that the Japanese PlayStation staff has effectively not participated in the PlayStation 5’s marketing, and perhaps this is why SIE Japan Studio saw Keiichiro Toyama (Silent Hill, Siren, etc), Teruyuki Toriyama (Demon’s Souls remake’s producer), and a few others leave.

How will Sony turn this around?

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech, Gematsu

“Dear customers: due to the manufacturer ending production, the following products will not be restocked.”
・PS4 500GB Glacier White
・PS4 1TB Jet Black
・PS4 1TB Glacier White
・PS4 2TB Jet Black
・PS4 Pro 1TB Glacier White pic.twitter.com/nub3lxcJGX

— Cheesemeister (@Cheesemeister3k) January 3, 2021