A PlayStation executive may have hinted at a new PlayStation 5 model coming next year.
Hideaki Nishino, who is Senior Vice President for Global Product Strategy and Management at Sony Interactive Entertainment, was interviewed by Japanese gaming media Famitsu about Sony’s plans for 2025. He had this to say:
“We believe that cumulative sales will exceed 37 million units by the end of fiscal 2022, and that it will be a very important time for the platform as well. I won’t be able to talk about specifics at this time, but I hope that you will look forward to next year (2023).”
Of course, Nishino’s statement could mean something else entirely. For example, a hint that supplies for PlayStation 5 are expected to increase, to finally meet pent up consumer demand. It could also mean new plans such as lower prices. Or it could just be hype for those targeted sales figures, which would be dependent on factors outside Sony’s control, such as the health of the global economy.
But the statement lines up very well with existing rumors that Sony is introducing a new model for the PlayStation 5.
The more famous and well known rumor is that Sony is working on a PlayStation 5 with a detachable disk drive. As opposed to the current SKUs that make you choose to use to either have a disk drive or no disk drive, this rumored model will let you buy the console now, and then opt to buy the drive after the fact.
If true, this model would not really be bringing something new to the table. While it’s good to have the choice, most PlayStation 5 fans who are still waiting to get their hands on a console will have likely already decided if they want to get their games for said console only digitally or with a chance to collect physical games too.
The other rumor is that Sony has found ways to shrink the PlayStation 5 motherboard and other components, and thereby created a new SKU that will fit in a smaller chassis. In other words, this could be a PlayStation 5 Slim, or even a Super-Slim.
While I described these as if they are separate rumors, there is a possibility that these all describe the same console. In other words, that disc-less PlayStation 5 might also be a smaller console as well. If this is the case, that could partly justify giving consumers the choice to buy an optional disc drive. Gamers could have the incentive to keep their gaming setups small, or take on the extra storage requirement to get all the features of the PlayStation 5.
With all that in mind, it’s definitely easy to look forward to what PlayStation has on offer in 2023.
Source: Tweaktown
