My logic is that two games aren't going to sell 50 million units of a console that's already been out six and a half years and is getting replaced in six months. Those games will give relatively short-lived bumps in the downward trajectory that's only natural of a console nearing the end of its lifecycle.

I don't really see the point in "replacing" consoles. You can sell the PS4 for another 4-5 years at $150-$199 alongside the PS5 with little to no problem.

The reason manufacturers create this artificial "replacement paradox" is to force people to only buy the newer system.

People still want the SNES and NES even today, sneaker manufacturers have no problem selling popular sneaker models that are 20-25 years old as current releases.

There's no reason with digital storefronts nowadays that consoles can't be kept on storeshelves for many, many years after "successive" consoles are released. 

The 2DS XL could be sold for many more years if Nintendo wanted to sell it for $99.99 and made a digital storefront where you could select from hundreds of GBA, DS, and 3DS games for $20-$25 a pop (no retail overhead), but they likely don't want to do that. 

Yeah Sony have been pretty clear about it; they've said they want to move people on PS5 as fast as possible. They're not going to stick with the PS4 for another six years to try and reach an arbitrary number of units sold.

They can say that all they want, but the fact is, cross-gen games are likely going to be continue to be released for another 2-3 years and if PS5 is $500, then there is a viable market for PS4 at $200-$250. 

The other factor with the PS3 being phased out so quickly was the CELL processor being a custom part always cost Sony a lot of money and was a pain in the ass to keep around, the PS4 really doesn't have that problem using fairly generic off the shelf parts. 

Didn't say otherwise, but 160 million, that's never gonna happen.

If they wanted to do the same thing they did with the PS2, they probably could do it, but they simply don't want to.

The PS1 sold another 30 million after the PS2 launched, the PS2 obviously sold a ton after the PS3 launched, but manufacturers don't care about the low end market that much any more.

If they wanted to do the same thing they did with the PS2, they probably could do it, but they simply don't want to.

The PS1 sold another 30 million after the PS2 launched, the PS2 obviously sold a ton after the PS3 launched, but manufacturers don't care about the low end market that much any more.

Nah, I don't buy it. You can't compare it to PS2, very different circumstances.

Those being what exactly?

Why can't they sell a $150 PS4 exactly? Or even a $99 one eventually? The reason is they don't want to, not because they can't. 

PS2 launched in a lot of developing markets later in its life, where PS4's already been out for years, and PS2 was helped by the PS3 being overpriced and slow out of the gate so people weren't pressed to upgrade. PS5 is unlikely to stumble the same way.