The PS4 is just a few years old, and it has only recently begin hitting its stride. Plus last year, Sony released the PS4 Pro, which was a pretty hefty mid life update to the system as well. The general understanding has been that the console will stick around for a few years before a successor is introduced.
The general understanding may be wrong. According to Macquarie Capital Securities analyst Damian Thong (via Wall Street Journal), Sony will “release its next-generation PlayStation by the second half of 2018.”
Now the wording here is interesting, because it never actually specifies a new PlayStation console– so there is the possibility that this is actually a new handheld, or a hybrid in the vein of Nintendo’s Switch. After all, with the Switch proving that the portable market is still viable, it doesn’t make sense to let Nintendo have all of it to themselves, right?
Then again, it could just be a PS5, which would kill the Xbox Scorpio dead in its tracks. And for those of you who may think it’s too early, also remember that Sony released the PS3 in 2006, when the PS2 was in full gear, and that the PS2 continued to stick around for almost a decade after that nonetheless.
I don’t know what this new system will be- but I am incredibly intrigued to see what it is, should it turn out to be true.