To be honest any reasonably popular console can be sold for 10+ years if they really want to. The PS4 could. Nintendo could sell DSi today for $60 and it would probably move some units especially in developing countries and be able to hit 175 million.
Sony cut the PS4 off because they want people to buy PS5s. Nintendo cut the DS off because they want people to buy 3DS'. Not because they couldn't continue to sell those systems or there was no market demand. Isn't this actually literally the opposite in reality ... they killed these systems off because the demand level was *too high* (even if it's far off from peak sales), they don't want it interfering with their new systems. A PS4 today (especially at a price cut of say $199.99) would be as popular as a PS2 was circa 2009 or whatever, Sony just chooses to not give it that chance for their own purposes.
But from that people may gain the POV that PS2 was more popular later at age 9/10 than say the PS4 or DS would be ... and I don't think that's actually even true. It just got a chance to hang around because of other factors whereas PS4, DS, etc. weren't given that chance, it's not really a case of "well PS2 was just more popular and had better legs". It's not an issue of sales or popularity, it's an issue of whatever priorities the company has at the time.
Would a PS4 be able to sell for another 2-3 years at $199.99? Absofuckinglutely.
Would a DSi have been able to sell for a few extra years at $69.99 or $79.99? Anyone really want to doubt this one? I'd buy one at that price right now brand new.
Sony/Nintendo just chose not to give those systems that shot. But the argument is then seized on that "well it means the PS2 was more popular longer than those systems!!!" ... when I just think that's false. That's why I take late cycle post year 7-8 sales with a huge grain of salt. There's a lot of factors there that aren't tied to a system's actual ability to sell by that point (was the PS2 really that much more popular late gen than DS and PS4 ... or was it because the PS3 was selling like a turd so Sony decided to let the PS2 stick around for several extra years?)
Last edited by Soundwave - on 06 May 2023
