Opinion | If Sony were smart, they would introduce an official Playstation 4 trade-in program to push Playstation 5 adoption rate

(Correction: Original PS4 launched in 2013 and not 2015 as originally stated.)

Sony has been slowly but surely drip-feeding Playstation 5 details to press over the past two years. So far, we know that the PS5 will be fully backwards compatible with PS4 games down to even their online components. Unlike the jump from the PS3 to the PS4, gamers making the jump from the PS4 to the PS5 will have fewer reasons to hold onto their PS4 systems. This begs the question: why not have an official trade-in program for existing PS4 owners when the PS5 finally becomes available?

The concept of "trading up" is not new especially in the world of smartphones. Dropping down a thousand dollars for a new smartphone every year is a tough sell, so OEMs and retailers will often allow owners of last generation models to trade-in their devices for discounts on the latest models. With the PS5 rumored to launch at a higher price than the PS4, a similar trade-in program would definitely lower the barrier of entry for early adopters and, perhaps more importantly, discourage owners from jumping ship to Microsoft.

Outlets like Gamestop or Best Buy will likely have their own individual trade-in bundles, but a Sony-run program would have the potential to reach more users on a worldwide scale. The ability to trade-in any PS4 model from the 2013 original up to the PS4 Pro for $75 to $200 off the PS5 would get any Playstation owner excited. The simple convenience of not having to deal with eBay would be icing on the cake.