Sony's Targeting More Than 50 Per Cent Market Share with PS5

Before Sony can get more than 50% of the market share, they need to make sure that more than 50 people can get a PS5.

That doesn't seem feasible. I have no doubt that the PS5 will outsell the PS4 and revenue will increase but everything is pointing to a more diversified market for the future. As Gamepass pulls away 3rd party revenue and publishers like Ubisoft and Epic look to expand options for their portfolio, Sony would be hard press to keep everyone playing solely in their ecosystem.

Really curios how they got that 45%.

PS4 45%
Wii U 5%
3DS 25%
Xboxen 20%
Vita 5%

And they don't consider Switch b/c they consider it to be this gen or something?

If they were only doing last gen home consoles I think it would be more like

PS4 65%
Wii U 5%
Xboxen 30%

So really, how'd they get 45% and why 55% this gen? Switch is at 80 million, almost certainly will hit a 100mil. Even if PS5 hit 100 mil and Xboxen 50 mil that's still only 40% for PS5. 🤷‍♂️

@ObeseChihuahua2 😄

If Sony can get a foothold in China and new or emerging markets then perhaps, but the switch won't stop selling and xbox is definitely setting a resurgence this gen

I definitely get the sense that Sony have some big things planned, quite possibly the proposed counter to Gamepass. It seems that all three console makers are really hitting their stride right now, and I have to imagine if Sony are confident about hitting 50% market share they have something up their sleeve....

That said, Sony are always finding new ways to disappoint me so maybe I'm just talking bollocks

@rjejr I'm curious if they count Switch at all. I'm not aware of anyone that considers Switch a competitor to PlayStation/Xbox. Nintendo has really been it's own thing since the Wii.

Microsoft has gone on record saying they don't consider Switch a competitor to Xbox (though they also said PlayStation is not a competitor).

I think Sony is doing the math of total market vs. Sony's share so that includes a bunch of people who own a Playstation and another console. They are trying to push against gamers who feel like they can get by without access to the PS5 library.

You can not just have a Switch unless you want to miss out on tons of new releases. So most owners will get something else also. They are a wash.

It will depend if Microsoft surprises with a bunch of new must have games. They have the hardware and GamePass is fantastic.

It is a fantastic product! It's only the extortionate prices on psn that the "disc free" owners are having to suffer that is dragging it down for me. I love everything else about it (apart from horizontal trophy lists). If i was a physical edition owner, id have nothing to complain about....

But i'm not.

Good luck, does not hurt to be ambitious, unless shareholders get angry at you because you dont meet the expectations.

Because they will not meet these expectations. PS5 is not competing against the disastrous Wii U or XBox One. It's fighting against the Switch and Xbox Series X|S. There is just not going to be room for anyone to take 50% of the cake.

@Master_Shake good shout on that.

@AdamNovice I would assume a decent proportion. PlayStation is the big money maker for them.

PS5 is obviously a huge success and I could definitely seeing it have the most market share of the 3.

But not 50%. Switch and Series X/S are NOT the failures their previous iterations were.

Enthusiast websites

“Consoles are dead” “exclusives don’t matter” “cloud and services are the future”

@rjejr I seriously doubt they are making up these numbers based on gamers that only game exclusively on PS consoles. There's a certain number of console gamers, it doesn't matter if you have a PS and Switch, or Ps and Xbox, you are still included in that figure somehow.

@uptownsoul Not sure if Xbox Series is ahead of Xbox One

It is selling more than the XBox One, right now both consoles are selling as much as they can manufacture. The real test, for both, no mater how much hype there is now, will be the day anyone can walk into a store and just pick one without fighting scalpers.

The scalper effect tends to create a false sense of demand that gets some that would otherwise wait rush to get one of the consoles if they can get their hands on one.

Sony so far has managed to sell plenty more PS5 units, in great part, because they started manufacturing much earlier, but they are starting to hit manufacturing bottlenecks due to the semiconductor shortage. So, both consoles will likely be on high demand due to the shortage regardless for the foreseeable future.

@rjejr That's revenue, not how many console have been sold in the past five years.
Playstation = Nintendo+Xbox (almost)

Should they consider Switch as a competitor, though? I have it as a second console, so do a few of my friends. And since they're releasing games on PC, I guess that's another platform they don't take as a competitor. That leaves them vs Xbox, not hard to reach that 50%+ now.

Best of luck to them. Quite a lofty goal but they have an amazing platform to build on. If they do things correctly I can see it happening.

@uptownsoul google it? There been plenty of reports about it all over the place.

50% market share? I hope they achieve it. It would be well deserved. That kind of market power would be better in their hands than in the hands of a corporation that already wields far too much power like Microsoft. Microsoft doesn't need the Xbox revenue at all. Sony needs PlayStation revenue or its an existential crisis for them. The gaming industry as a whole is better off with PlayStation in it.

Can sony do it if they keep releasing their exclusives on pc? It will train people that they can play sony exclusives on pc instead (with lower games price) rather than buy the console.

Fortunately for them, xbox is in the same predicament since xbox 100% porting their exclusive on pc, so I think sony will have more 50% market share compared to xbox. As long as nintendo didn't release powerful console and have all 3rd party games like cod and rockstar games, sony will be okay I guess.

@rjejr @Milktastrophe MS don't consider Nintendo a competitor for the same reason Steam and PC aren't a competitor, they are partners.

I'm sure MS are working very hard at trying to keep the xbox ecosystem on the Switch right now.

And competitors or not, they still all have a market share. It just means how much money they make from the market. For all platforms, that will mean how many games and subscriptions they can sell.

@Richnj no, if they're not a competitor then they aren't competing for market share with them. For example, I'm sure they're not including things like NES mini as part of the market they're measuring. That's the whole point, from this slide we don't know what Sony is considering the market or how they're measuring their market share. If the market they care about is just Playstation and Xbox gamers, then it doesn't matter what Nintendo does. That was actually one of the brilliant moves of the Wii, they targeted a completely different market from previous consoles.

Possibly this number is just PS4sSold/(PS4sSold+Xbox1sSold+SwitchesSold). Going from the numbers on Wikipedia, that's roughly 45% for PS4. But wait, what about Wii U? Again if Sony thinks it's not competing for the market Sony is targeting then it doesn't matter how many or how few it sells for Sony's purposes.

@Agramonte Most gamers probably invest much less time in gaming than you, and there are tons of great games out there, also for Switch. So if you are an average Switch gamer, you can easily spend all your free time on this platform (even on the go), without getting the feeling of missing out anything.

PS5 will have to sell a lot of consoles to have more than a 50% market share with Switch around, then again maybe they aren't counting them as there will be very little crossover in games between them.

What is clear is Xbox won't even be close and the Series S was a huge mistake, even in the current climate it's been freely available and is in stock at several retailers right now

Yeah I knew all the narratives since last year about xbox being stronger competition than ever has been BS (and wishful thinking). Xbox 1 was way stronger competition in the first half of last gen.

@Milktastrophe You know what, this is my mistake. I forgot we were talking about Sony.

@Loftimus
I see what you mean. You should try swap it for a disc model man 💾

@somnambulance It's very regional. I checked your profile and I see you're in the US. Typically 50% or more of Nintendo hardware is sold in just NA meaning that the same number of, say, Switches as you get in the US and Canada are spread around the other hundreds of countries in the world. So for my part, I only know two people with a Switch (apart from me) and they're both 6 year old girls; two daughters of two of my friends. Though for the record, I know no one with an XB1 or Series X.

@rjejr The numbers are a bit skewed, but it being a Sony presentation, what would you expect?

However, I'm not entirely sure how the Switch gets classified in the left hand graph - is it in the console or the mobile numbers?
I think with the Switch being the only guaranteed runaway success in the last few years (and the the Pro to come?) and with the PS4 still selling shed loads (especially since the PS5 is in short supply), Sony are going to struggle to get near 50% even before you take into account of the sales-hungry Microsoft, certainly in the next few years.

I can see Sony getting to about 40% with the PS5.
The PS4 figures are a bit of an anomaly as it was a console that was released at the right price and was able to capitalise on a completely borked console launch by an ever changing direction Microsoft and an irrelevant console from Nintendo. Effectively, the competition removed themselves from challenging, leaving Sony to do a great marketing job and deliver the console that a broad spectrum of gamers wanted with a diverse series of games and some unique IPs.

@AdamNovice
Another thing I think remarkable is PS5 standard model is already going to be profitable next month. Not the Digital Edition obviously. Its nice to have facts to balance all the misinformation out there.

Imo xbox is going to do much better this gen. Liking my ps5 but the series x is used much more at the moment..

Cross game chat and cs:go ?? : )

@uptownsoul again: ridiculously easy to Google. I won’t cherry pick a link for you. If you actually care, the reports on Series X|S sales outperforming every single Xbox console in the past are widely available. But it’s clear where you actually coming from, so, have a good one.

@themightyant I don’t know where you are, but I can’t find a Series S for the life of me on the US, and I been trying (without paying premiums or financing one via all access.)

I just went looking through all my usual spots when I saw your reply earlier and still can’t see Series S in stock anywhere online or stores near me.

Interesting to see what they have planned to achieve those lofty goals.
PS4 absolutely smashed it out the park with price point and game library.
Xbox One had an absolute stinker last time around and I expect Series X/S to be a lot more competitive this gen.
And are they even counting Nintendo Switch at all?

@themightyant
Yep. I think the market for Series S isn't there right now.
That console is either aimed at the casual market or as a cheaper secondary console for PS5 owners.
I do think it will pick up long term, but the majority of the audience are still happy gaming on PS4 or Xbox One with support for cross-gen games still strong.

@blinx01 funny enough, I went 100% PS4 last gen very early (both Xbox and Nintendo dropped the ball in different ways.)

Early on, honestly, there was not much to play on PS4 other than third party games. I think I spent too long playing Resogun because of that. Killzone was definitively not a good game.

They got the price right for sure, though. $100 cheaper than the Xbox, and better hardware, with all (not most, not some) multiplat games playing better on PS4.

Xbox one actually had a damned impressive launch lineup of exclusive games (Killer Instinct, Dead Rising 3, Ryse of Rome, Forza), but higher console price, creepy always on microphone, weaker hardware, all that stuff made me not care about those games at all.

Over time the PS4 exclusive library got very good, and managed to snatch at least some of those temp exclusives. Im sure decades from now I’ll look at the PS4 with the same fondness I look at the PS2.

@themightyant well, that’s a shame. I was hoping to find X or Y retailer in the US had a huge stash I could go after 😅

Got lucky with a Series X early on but really want a Series S for a second room. Don’t need a Series X there.

I think it’s actually part of MS strategy to throw a lot more consoles to overseas markets because they know they have always had high demand domestically (even the terrible Xbox one did rather well in the US,) and know if they want to penetrate the international they need to capture some market early on while everything is still supply constrained.

Sony seems to be doing the opposite, they threw a lot of focus to the US with their hardware allocations.

@Tharsman
I've always owned all consoles when possible myself, but for me, PS4 was hands down THE best of the bunch last gen.
Nailed all the key areas you want as a gamer and dominated the traditional console market.

At the moment, I'm probably playing slightly more Series X due to Game Pass, but PS5 has some massive games on the way but I definitely think they'll have to be extra competitive this time around whereas it was a walk in the park for them last time.
Great times to be a gamer either way!

@sanderson72 " I'm not entirely sure how the Switch gets classified in the left hand graph - is it in the console or the mobile numbers?"

Well if you ask NintnedoLife it's both, at the same time. 🤣

I made some joke below about Sony gaining market share revenue via higher prices. Not sure how anyone knows the future though. Do we get a Switch Pro or a Switch 2? SwitchTV? SwitchDS? Do people get sick of trying to get a PS5 after a year and all buy Xboxen this Christmas? Who predicted Animal crossing selling 30mil copies during a pandemic?

I mean I know it's peoples jobs to predict long term revenue growth, but gaming is tricky. How's Stadia doing? OK, everybody predicted that failure, bad example.

@Richnj "MS don't consider Nintendo a competitor...they are partners."

Well I wouldn't go as far as partners. But Switch is a handheld w/ TV out and Xboxen are purely home consoles so they are complementary more than competitive. If we get Gamepass w/ Xcloud on the Switch Pro, which we very well might, then I'll call them partners.

@Tzara "That's revenue"

Well that certainly changes everything, thanks. At 45% they must be accounting for Nintendo then b/c I doubt Xbox has 55% of anything.

Also a weird stat though. Like, is Sony planning on going from 45% to 55% by charging $70 for games rather than $60 on Switch and $500 and $400 per console rather than $300 and $200 for Switch and Lite? More expensive rumoured Switch Pro not withstanding.

@Omnistalgic "exclusively on PS consoles"

Good point, forgot the overlap. But then how does anyone account for overlap? Sony may know how many hours PS+ players spend online but they don't know how many hours those same people spend playing on their Xboxen and Switch.

@somnambulance "I only know two other people with a PS5,"

Well unless you know a lot of scalpers... 😉

@Milktastrophe "though they also said PlayStation is not a competitor"

Only Xbox competitor is PC, though it's more like frenemies.

@Tharsman Seems like you don't need any help but I follow CAG on twitter for my no hope PS5 search. Of all the current gen consoles Series S is the one that seems to come into stock most often, and occasionally even stay in stock for a day or 2. Good luck.

https://twitter.com/videogamedeals

@rjejr Still can't understand the point of the X Series S. On the face of it it seems to do less that the PS4 Pro (no 4K visuals - seriously?) and download only. Plus it looks ugly (all white consoles look naff in my eyes!) though curiously it does look like my house alarm's siren box.

@rjejr I’ll add that to my follow list. Been following Wario64, I just don’t spend too much time on tweeter and every time I get around to see restocking tweets I’m too late.

@sanderson72 the machine is actually capable of 4k, as much as the Xbox One X, would say more so than a PS4 Pro.

Microsoft just recommends devs to make their games lower res on the Series S. The expectation is that a game that runs at 4k 60fps can simply run at 1440p/60fps on the Series S with minimal or no additional adjustments.

Many devs, however, have decided to instead sacrifice frame rate on the Series S, to keep the resolution at 4k.

A reason MS likely decided to offer the S is because both, the PS4 and XBox One S, drastically outsold their more powerful Pro/X versions, and the Switch also basically took over sales from both despite being way less powerful. Theory being that a majority of the consumer base just rather buy the cheaper, less powerful version of console available.

This also means it’s important to offer a cheaper variant. IMO the only mistake there was not adding a disk drive to the Series S, Im sure a lot of the players that gravitated towards the cheaper hardware last gen also like renting or buying used games. GamePass might fill in there, but still will be a harder sell.

I buy mostly digital when it comes to Xbox, and just want an Xbox in the livingroom. I would personally not get a Series S my only Xbox l, though.

Can someone explain to me how please TSMC the people who build processors and Graphics Chips have said even with IBM saying the same thing. They don't see the chip shortage coming to the norm around 2022 into 2023, they still have to build new fabs to prevent it happening again. They build chips for Intel (not as much as AMD) and they also do mobile chips for Apple.

The automotive industry is lagging and well as hospitals and other things, can't see it happening until end of 2022 they owning 50% of the market. But that depends on what Xbox can release now Bethesda are under there wing

If they also count Nintendo, they are for a rude awakening...

@Max_the_German This has been covered to death.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/12/switch_owners_most_likely_to_own_a_rival_console_2020_study_shows

NPD pegged the US at 2/3 last survey.

@sanderson72 "can't understand the point of the X Series S"

Well Tharsman already went into great detail but I probably would have simply gone with $300. And I wouldn't have compared it to PS4 Pro, I've read it's less powerful than Xbox 1 X. It's a budget system, every console gen needs a budget system, look at the Wii Mini and PS3 Slimmer Slim. Not every family can afford $500 or even $400, but $300 might be doable.

I agree w/ you about the disc drive but I think most people are getting the XSX simply for Gamepass on their tv. Or 2nd tv. I bought my PS3 Slimmer Slim for my bedroom as pretty much just a blu-ray player and streaming device at a decent price.

Plus, MS already had the X1 SAD so XSX was kind of a continuation of that. MS has to do something w/ their R&D team, they don't do VR or handhelds so multiple consoles it is. 🤷‍♂️