First off I'm not talking about Sony making an exit from the console wars, just want to make that clear.

When will Sony ditch the playstation brand and move to a new generation, of games consoles? What would drive them to do this?

Kind of like how Nintendo killed off the gameboy brand and replaced it with the DS. The playstation has been around for 3 generations now and Sony might be thinking of introducing a new brand to the market in the future instead of a PS4.

Edit: Also does the Playstation brand hold as much weight as it used to?

Yes the playstation brand does, it is basically the standard word for video game console still, and I doubt sony will leave it for some time

I think after the PS4 they might get rid of it. PS4 sounds 'cool' to me, but PS5 doesn't really sound 'cool.'

Things come and go. I'm aware that in the United States people used to say Nintendo for any video game. In Europe you hear less now the Playstation brand being synonymous with video games than before. 5 years from now it could be the Wii being used as a synonym. You never know.

They had an advert for the ps2 saying perfection would be achieved with the ps9, I guess that's when they'll ditch it

No. That would be retarded. You named the first three, Playstation 1, 2, 3. Name the rest, 4, 5, 6, 7... Damn it. I hate it when they do that. That really pisses me off.

The playstation brand won't die off for as long as Sony supports it and even when/if Sony abandons it , it should have a 15-25 year legacy at least.

they won't ditch it.... but they should

They wont kill it off, but they deffinately should.

Not trying to start a flamewar, but PS1 and PS2 were consoles well known for lasting a long time, and the Playstation brand received much loving. The PS3 has destroyed most of this, and when the PS3 falls short of the 10 year mark (which it will, lets be honest), all goodwill towards the brand will be gone.

its not about sounding cool. its about being proper, organized, and making sense. they're names, and sounds. thats it. theres nothing cool about it. its a title. so it, not being ps5, but something else, would be as retarded as calling rocky 6, rocky balboa. it defeats the purpose of names, if ur gunna go around and mess it up like that