The PS4 is selling like this for all the same reasons that game hardware has sold like this before, Sony has just done very well with maximizing the strategic points this generation. I remember when Sony PR was an absolute disaster during the PS3 years. They seem to have learned a lot of lessons and are hitting the key issues instead. It is the games, it is the price, it is the multimedia functions, it is the timing. Riding off the vibrancy of the market this year in conjunction with the now robust PS4 library, they lowered the cost to an unignorable $200 ($150 at Gamestop) price point which dramatically increased demand for the console. Now when everyone who hasn’t gotten one wants one, they again dropped it to $249, just within grasp of those lingering consumers to nab it for Christmas. If they maintain that price or not, the after holiday season will still benefit from the heightened interest in the console, pushing this increased sales for a bit into 2018. It is possible Sony could ride these price cuts through 2018 but also possible that interest could taper off despite all efforts.
This is dramatically different than past price cuts like the famous $99 Gamecube boost, because this time PS4 is a top choice console and has been all generation which has produced the best game library currently on the market. There is no “more in-demand higher tier console.” The price cut didn’t have to even happen for sales, but Sony did it anyway, to ensure a further increase in “demand” that would render Xbox One nearly obsolete, a bid to flatten the OneX launch and to keep Switch from completely taking the holiday. Everything worked out beautifully as planned.
