PlayStation Fans Are the Most Loyal, According to a Recent Study

The surprise is seeing Nintendo third when you take into account that their exclusives sell by far the best out of any of the big 3. No doubt Sony has a very strong following dating back to the PS1 but seeing Xbox above Nintendo is a bit of nonsense really

NEWS FLASH: BEST VIDEO GAME COMPANY HAS MOST LOYAL FANS.

Who would have thunk it?

@carlos82 Shows just how unreliable most surveys are when the methodology is bad.

I will probably end up getting both, it all depends. I honestly am not too excited about next gen at the moment, the One X and Pro are plenty good enough for me.

Eh, I already have a Switch and will get a PS5 at some point so soz guys, looks like I’m not loyal

In god i trust .we are patient and we dont ask for war.i cant wait for games and delays.my backlog of games is huge.plus besides playing video games.i l💖ve sports.movies.old school rap music.retro music.youtube videos.etc.hey spend the day with your girlfriend or your wife.have fun .it will goes fast.so i can wait.word ☝ up son

I'm Sony fanboy in general. Sony phone, almost exclusively Sony A/V stuff over the years (their audio equipment, especially personal audio has such a specific flavour, that once you're used to it - other, even 'better', equipment just doesn't get a look in).

They make good stuff for the most part.

I've owned consoles from all of the big players, and while I did enjoy XBOX and GC, MS and Ninty very much lost me to PlayStation last gen.
PS3 was the better machine in my eyes. It was technologically interesting, It looked like a 'pimped' GF grill, the launch games were great as far as I was concerned and my friends and colleagues at the time had 360's that were RRODing with alarming regularity and were being driven in circles by MS customer support.

I have PlayStation in my BLOOD I am known for PlayStation by everyone who knows me to + I don't mind Nintendo tho but I only got time to play one Console each Gen

@naruball @carlos82 Wii U. Even Nintendo fans are willing to abandon a Nintendo system. Their games sell well, but that doesn't mean that they are all loyal fans. Look at any Nintendo property that isn't Mario or Zelda and sales are far less impressive (Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion, Metroid, etc.)

my main console will always be the playstation, thats because i have no time for more consoles and games.

Looks at PS One, Ps2, Ps3, Ps 4, PSP, PS Vita, PSVR. 😂 Seems i am on the loyal side.

I hope i never learn how much money i have spent on games though!

@Carl-G What do you think about HZD (and other Sony first party exclusives) coming to PC (assuming it's true) and third party exclusives (like FFVII Remake) likely coming to Xbox?

Why shouldn't we be? Sony hasn't done anything so bad that it has soured our expectations of them or their ability to provide us a quality console/games. Early PS3 was a tough stretch for me, mostly because I was in highschool so I was old enough that I was not given games anymore but not old enough to easily acquire them.

@Octane good point but I could also say Vita, it seems that many went the Wii - 3DS - Switch route rather than through Wii U. A counter argument would be how do you think the PS5 would fare if it didn't have third party AAA support? If you're taking away FIFA, COD and GTA amongst others I doubt it would have the same level of success that Nintendo manages with Switch.

As for sales you're right to an extent but Luigi's Mansion 2 finished on about 6 million plus, whilst the third entry is already tracking above that in sales. Splatoon is a big seller these days too and a couple of the recent Animal Crossing games are above 11 million each, whilst Nintendo games continue to sell despite not being reduced in price where as the tail end of PS4's exclusives sales come from heavy discounts.

My PS4 ejected a disc across the room and boy did I go and fetch it.

The results do seem a bit questionable. Quite a lot of Nintendo fans seem to be super loyal, so I would have expected them to be the highest for this kind of survey.

Utter nonsense. Nintendo have the most loyal fans. Certainly higher than Xbox. Sony fans didn’t blindly go out and buy the PSone classic just because of the brand.

On forums Sony fans are the most blinded and blinkered and stick only to the Sony brand though. Xbox and Nintendo are far more likely to own multiple consoles/PC gaming machine

I have a switch and both this gen consoles I’m buying ps5 on release and I will eventually buy the series x but it won’t be for at least a year or 2 so no I’m not loyal to PlayStation but they are my preferred console since ps1

@BarefootBowser 100%. This. If any of them want my money they have to do something for it. Tbh though I all three so clearly I’m easily pleased 😀

@Octane WiiU is the only console that didn't do well (ok, other than virtual boy). Everything else does, including amiibos, retro consoles, etc.

People who buy ps consoles may or many not buy ps exclusives. Nintendo fans buy all the major exclusives, hence them selling by far the most on each Nintendo console released. Zelda had more than 100% attach rate when it came out. What ps game can compete with that?

Sony fans wouldn't buy God of War 137, Uncharted 89, The last of us 97. Pokemon keeps being released and it sells like crazy. Same with Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart (even a mere port), Smash Bros, Luigi games, etc. Yes, some of their games don't sell that well, but the major franchises are guaranteed to do well.

On ps, no such luck. Not even God of War Ascension managed to do that or that Uncharted game that quickly misapprehend from the charts.

The average ps4 owner may just buy Fifa or COD and never even consider Uncharted. A simple look at the charts clearly shows which fanbase is more loyal. Whether that's a good or bad thing is a completely different matter.

@m8e3point1415 makes perfect sense that you're here.

I haven't used my PS4 in months. I've gone back to Steam & Wii U so I won't be getting a PS5. Sony exclusives don't matter to me anymore, I only come here for the reviews and articles now.

@playstation1995 For some reason that sort of cheered me up

I met the most stubborn fans on YouTube. Fans who didn't allow criticism and stuck to a brand. These were mostly Nintendo fans. But I do not know what it looks like on other platforms like Reddit, Twitter, etc.. : /

@Lando_ It’s awful. The PlayStation base is awful on Twitter & just about everywhere else. I can give you examples you wouldn’t believe.

I'm never disappointed with playstation console, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, psvita, and now ps4, in the end playstation is always my most played console. Xbox 360 come close on ps3 in the previous generation, but after $300 ps3 slim with mgs4, I'm back to playstation again

@carlos82 I think people are loyal to nintendo ip not the machine itself, the wii u didn't sells good because it's a bad console and didn't have main 3D mario and only have 3D zelda in the end of its lifecycle. I heard mario kart on iphone is selling great too (with mtx, subs, etc because it's free to play). So people only want the ip, not the nintendo hardware itself.

Been with Sony since the ps1 through to the ps4 and never had any interest in Nintendo or Xbox consoles. I guess I get everything I need with Playstation.

@ShaiHulud. Which one cheered you up.word up son

Xbox doesn't have anything to win me over.
And I HATE that controller.
Nintendo never did it for me either. Cept for snes Zelda that is just one of the best games ever.

Have owned Every PS since PS2 plus the VITA and PSP. PS5 is day 1.

That said, more loyal to games and publishers than hardware makers. I followed Bayonetta to Nintendo... just like Monster Hunter back to Sony.

Hardware is just a means to an end.

After a short break in the nineties from gaming it was the release of the ps 1 that got me back into gaming and been a PlayStation owner since then so can't see that changing soon.

There's nothing good or desirable about being "loyal" to a multinational corporation that just wants your money. Shutting yourself off from what the competition offers and slobbering over a company that you've sworn fealty to is an incredibly unattractive trait.

With that said, this makes sense in the context of what each company offers. Nintendo consoles get GREAT exclusives, but if you want to play literally anything else ambitious and current-gen, then you're probably going to need to own another platform. Microsoft's third party support is nearly as good as Sony's, but it lacks exclusives or anything to make it stand out from the competition. Sony is the only company that offers highly-rated and sought-after exclusives in addition to having pretty much all the third party support. It makes sense that dyed-in-the-wool ponies wouldn't feel the need to own anything else.

I've been more of a Nintendo/PC person this gen, personally, but I still own a PS4.

@m8e3point1415 makes sense

@Akurusu did they attack sites (DDoS) for giving a ps exclusive a 7, thus crushing the site? Did they call reviewers the "r word" for giving a ps exclusive (in that case it was Super Mario Galaxy 2) a 9 ? (for being similar to Mario Galaxy 1)

I don't know. Sony fans don't seem to me that they go to such extremes. I can't think of a Nintendo/MS exclusive that was attacked on meta as much as Death Stranding was.

@Stocksy this guy might be right. I mean didn't Nintendo just sell cardboard to their fans not long ago!

Sony ponies are also the most rabid

@playstation1995 I guess it was just the whole feel-good gist of your comment!

I’d think Nintendo’s fans but then you look at Nintendo consoles and they’re usually owned alongside an Xbox or PlayStation. Also, to be honest, the people I know who only own 1 console own only a PS4.

@naruball Well, GameCube didn't do too hot either. And whilst the Wii was very popular, many of those sales were from families, or the more casual people who saw Wii Sports, thought it looked fun, played it for a year or two and then abandoned it. Anything released past 2010 was essentially sold to a very low active userbase.

I mean, I don't think people are going to buy Zelda 87. The strength of that franchise, and Mario, is that they don't come out too often. Usually only one per console, and are usually radically different from the last entry. In the sense that they are rarely a direct sequel. Uncharted 1-4 are pretty similar in gameplay, so I can understand that people would get tired of them after the tenth entry for example.

And sure, amiibo do well, but what are the numbers? Nintendo is known to under produce most of their products, so those things selling out isn't a good indicator IMO.

And yes, you do have a point that the majority of PlayStation owners probably don't care about GOW or Uncharted and only buy FIFA. That's true. But the people that buy Zelda and Mario aren't necessarily ''loyal'' fans I think. It's just the games you buy when you get a Nintendo system. But they wouldn't necessarily buy every Nintendo system. I think a good comparison is Fortnite. It's extremely popular, but I wouldn't say the fans are also loyal to Epic.

Also, interestingly, the 100% attach rate came from Nintendo. That only means that Nintendo sold more copies of Zelda than Switch system, to retailers. They don't report on products sold to actual customers, because that's impossible to keep track off. The Switch was sold out at launch, but copies of Zelda were plentiful in stores, Nintendo doesn't care, they already sold them. Though I wouldn't know why you'd buy a Switch at launch without Zelda, but some people did.

Sorry for the long reply by the way.

Considering I wasn't surveyed to answer these questions, it doesn't actually mean anything to me. Statistics can be made to tell whatever you want.

@Akurusu What a load of crap, what about the Xbox fanatics, singing songs, drawing pics with crayons, I have had Xbox fan boys threatening to rape my Mum, drown my disabled cat, Sony fan boys are annoying no doubt but Xbox fan boys are the scum of the gaming community hands down.

@ShaiHulud. Cool hahaha.you always got to have fun.word up son

'Loyalty' is such a poor word. To keep playing the games you like has nothing to do with loyalty.

As others have said, Ninty loyalty ultimately boils down to their exclusives and that differentiates it from XBox and Sony, which are more prone to brand loyalty.

Also, the thing perhaps more counterintuitive in this is that the more "hardcore" you are (such as us here on a gaming site), the more prone you are to trying out other games and system, because you go where the games are.
On the contrary, "casuals" go where the ads take them, and once they've made up their mind it's hard to change it.

I know a lot of non-gaming people who only buy PS or XBox simply because they grew up with one and stick to that, actively disliking the other one (and Nintendo, of course) without ever even trying it out.

@JJ2 I can’t say I’m loyal to anyone. I just play what looks fun. Every fanbase has its flaws and are just as bad as the other. That’s why I think the console wars are stupid.

@naruball Astral Chain was review bombed because platinum made it exclusively for Switch. There were also the death threats & threats of suicide sent to Sega because of the exclusivity of Bayonetta 2 & 3. Fire Emblem Three Houses was also review bombed for no reason, there are more instances but I won’t go into that. Ooh I just remembered. 2017 ring a bell? “RIGGED” “PAID REVIEWS” “PAID AWARDS”. I believe a site was also DDoS because The Last Guardian was given a 7. Gears 5 was also attacked just because it was an Xbox game & actually wasn’t bad.

Last thing I’ll say is Gears 5, an Xbox game, got an 85 on metacritic and was review bombed and called trash by people who didn’t play it because 85 was bad. Yet Death Stranding got 82 & was praised? Last thing I’m gonna say is State of Decay 2. Some were interested but PlayStation loyalists mocked and laughed at the gaming saying things like “Days Gone is better.” “This game wants to be days gone so bad”. Like no other game tries zombies before.

So yeah. They can be terrible.

They are so loyal then never complained about the stupid symmetrical controller that is basically a wireless DS1. Probably because they don't know anything else. Also X is a cross

@Akurusu
Oh theres no need to oppose a fan base to another. Its FINE to like a platform in particular. Especially after many years enjoying games on it. NOTHING wrong.
Dont believe those trying to paint fanbases as bad things, mainly the press and corporations pulling the strings.

Nitpick but to me it sounds that survey just points there are more Sony fans, not that they are more loyal. I think the best way of testing loyalty is asking them how many have another console, be it an Xbox or switch. Any “loyal fan” with a second console gets disqualified.

Alternatively: ask them how many multi-platform games they have for each console.

Should we feel like we deserve a pat on the back or something? Sony has been doing fine by their fans, but this sort of loyalty is often rewarded with resting on your laurels. I mostly game on PS4 and occassionally PC ( had a PS2 and PS3) but it all depends where the games that interest me are. That's the platform I tend to go with. That said, whichever console gets a Mass Effect Trilogy remaster is the one I'm going to buy next gen!

@naruball If PS were the weakest console people would also only buy it for exclusives and the attach rate would be the same for exclusives. There is no point to buy Nintendo unless you want exclusives, so the attach rate has to be high for the major exclusives. Anyone that isn't concerned with exclusives gets PS, XB or PC which brings down the attach rate. It's just a sign that PS has a more diverse fan base than Nintendo.

Another note, a big reason Nintendo's games continue to sell well is because their audience is much younger. This isn't the umpteenth Zelda or Mario Party/Kart/Tennis/Golf/Soccer/Baseball for a lot of their players. For many of them it's only the first or second. I have a Switch but I'm 28 so I've been around long enough to be dead tired of most Nintendo sequels and I only have 3 games for my Switch, and the only one I'll be playing much of is Let's Go Pikachu, because I can play it while watching TV. I've hardly touched Zelda and Smash Bros because the games still feel far too similar to their predecessors, which I burnt out on already.

@KleebanKliban that's not true, though. Nintendo exclusives sell better than ps/ms exclusives no matter the install base. If Sony consoles were to sell 15 million units, the sales of Uncharted, God of War etc would be horrendous.
A ps fan may buy a ps4 and not even consider buying Uncharted, but if you're a Nintendo fan (the vast majority anyway) you will definitely buy Smash, Mario, Zelda, and Kart. That's loyalty.

As for what Nintendo consoles offer, it's not just console exclusives. They also offer gaming on the go (huge selling point for the Switch) or motion controls (Wii). Yet their exclusives do extremely well, even when they are overpriced.

@naruball if Sony were to have a less appealing console and only sell 15 million units, the sales for God of War and Uncharted would remain largely untouched. It would be multiplat sales that suffer as the gamers that arent buying exclusives would be on a superior Xbox. Exclusive sales would almost definitely go up as people tend to buy more exclusives to justify the purchase of an exclusive only device.. like I bought Smash just to vindicate my Switch purchase, or Ryse for my Xbox One.

If Nintendo had a more powerful home console with a better online infrastructure, it would be graced by the same reduced exclusive attach rate because it would be getting increased revenue from a new audience that doesnt care about its exclusives, like PS and XB both have. Currently Switch just doesnt make sense for multiplat gamers. Too many games dont go to Switch and it will be worse when next gen starts this year. Switch sales are mostly just handheld gamers and home console gamers that can afford a secondary console for exclusives, and the latter are the gamers skewing the attach rate.

Nintendo does have the most draw as far as exclusives, but you cant just look at the attach rate as a single metric that tells all. The consumer motivations behind those numbers are more complicated than you are assuming and while Nintendo has the lead in exclusive appeal, it's not by as epic a margin as attach rate suggests.

@nessisonett Dont worry never saw you as a big Sony fan anyway.

😆

Love the platform im happy about the games the only big thing i dislike is that Sony puts more effort in the US then in its homebase Europe.