PS5
Sony
How crazy is the demand for PlayStation 5? Sony made a startling comparison in a recent presentation on the future of the brand and the current state of console sales.
We all know that PS5s run out instantly whenever they appear … anywhere, but Sony explains how quickly the system sells compared to its predecessor:
- In the United States, at this stage of the console’s life cycle, the PS4 sold 80,000 units in nine days.
- The PS5 has sold 80,000 units in 82 minutes, on average.
- That’s 6 sales per minute for PS4, almost 1,000 sales per minute for PS5.
They also have a chart on “buying interest” on the console a year after launch, where the PS4 has 28% interest and the PS5 55%. Again, this all comes down to the fact that many of the people who want the PS5 have only been physically unable to get one, and this is the only reason why the PS4 is selling more than the PS5 in this moment of the two life cycles.
The concept of “sales per minute” doesn’t translate into something like PS5 sales would be 10,000% more than PS4 if they could only produce enough units, but it’s still pretty fascinating. The slide is titled “Unprecedented Demand,” which certainly doesn’t seem like an exaggeration, and it’s easy to imagine that the PS5 would probably have broken all console sales speed records if Sony had been able to produce more units. Instead, they promise shortages that will continue until 2023 due to current supply chain / component problems. Things may not return to normal until 2024, the company says.
The shortage of PS5 seems to go hand in hand with another development, which Sony has begun to realize that they are shooting at the feet limiting sales of games only on PlayStation and PlayStation, especially now in a time when not they can take full advantage of the PS5. boxes. This seems partly behind their push to get more PC games, and they have reported a huge increase in PC sales due to recent ports like God of War, and it seems that other exclusives like Returnal are about to to get there. PC in a much faster way than previous games.
Microsoft has been making PC-to-Xbox sales for a long time, and this is different from Sony, which makes separate ports, sold separately, but they can get away with it due to the high demand for their exclusive PlayStation ecosystem. . Expect PCs to become an increasingly important part of your business as they expand this concept, as Sony says they want half of their gaming sales to be for PCs and mobile phones by 2025.
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