In the US, PS5 Is Selling Much Faster Than PS4 At a Higher Price

Thats the aftermath of the success of the Playstation 4.
It had built so much momentum in its cycle, it carries it into the Playstation 5 era.

@breakneck plus most people buy whatever their friends or everyone else has.

Exclusives are important for a console to get enough hardcore players and become a success. After becoming a hit item, they don't matter much.

@PorkChopExpress as Spencer explained during that infamous kinda funny interview, PlayStation won the most important generation (8th gen) as it solidified digital libraries and online profiles. The fact that the PlayStation 5 is selling as well as it is given covid, supply shortages, poor first party output etc. is a testament to that.

Why are we talking about higher price when adjusted by inflation the Ps4 was more or less in line with PS5? around $440 and PS5 can be either 399 or 499, almost at the middle point.

@graymamba The importance of first-party output is overstated. If you look back at the PS1, it was the strength of third-party support and perceived exclusives (many games people strongly associate with the PS1 either came out elsewhere, sometimes before PS like Tomb Raider, or came out elsewhere a bit later). Wipeout and GT are cool and all, but the things people were really hyped about back then were third-party, like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, MGS, Final Fantasy, GTA etc.

The N64 had legendary first-party games like Mario Kart 64, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye and Smash Bros and got absolutely crapped on by the PS1. It massively lacked third-party support, though. Same with the GC vs PS2. The consistent thing with PS is that almost all games are released on them, not great first-party support.

@Faruko Yeah, for some reason gamers and game journalists seem to always forget about inflation. Like when people say "I'm never paying £70 for a game, I remember in the early 90s I'd just pay £40," and you can't help but want to say "okay so that's actually £80 in 2024 £GBP you used to pay and you were okay with that but make it £10 cheaper and it's somehow too much?"

We continue to get games releasing on PS4, by the looks of it by the time the PS6 comes out, people might still be clinging to their PS4

PS4 did have competition - not much admittedly - but at least it had some.
PS5 is the only choice for a next gen console now that Microsoft keep shooting themselves in the foot unless Switch 2 sells even faster than its predecessor.

If PS want to sell more in Europe, maybe they should reverse their £30 price hike that they loaded on everywhere apart from their home country of the USA?

@sanderson72 Yes, it’s the lack of competition for Sony in Europe, or at least „on the Continent“, what let them demand these prices. In the US, where Microsoft is a meaningful competitor and household incomes are higher (even considering high health costs), the prices for PS5 and therefore the PS5 itself seem to be more attractive.

Good news for Sony
BUT
I wish this could translate to cheaper PS+ price and more classic PS1-PS2-PS3-PSP-Vita port or remaster. It would be awesome if Wild Arms 4, 5, Alter Code F, and XF got a port / remaster. Or Legend of Legaia 1 & 2, Alundra, Arc the Lad, etc...

@Matroska ps1 had crash trilogy , CTR (better than mario kart 64) twisted metal, siphon filter , etc

the n64 also got outsold because of its dumb controller , cartridges & worse versions of multiplats because of limited space on cartridges compared to CDs. outside of mario kart , smash bros and goldeneye - was there any other reason people had a n64 for the most part & wasn’t it seen as a couch-co-op machine ?

i think people mostly point out sonys exclusive output because of how good they were rather than sheer quantity

@PorkChopExpress yup, I honestly think MS regret going all-in on Gamepass now as they’ve simply trained their core-consumer to not make purchases. Their bet was so huge though, that I don’t think it’s the kinda thing they could ever walk back… even when they needed to, hence making what must’ve seemed the blasphemous decision at the time to release games on their competitors platform instead.

@Mikey856 Proud owner of Pro here too, and yes I agree every game just slaps on the pro doesn't' it?, I replayed Stellar blade the other week on the new settings and it's night and day difference.

@Max_the_German @sanderson72 The PS5 did get a $50 price hike in the US it just came later after the one in Europe and was only for the Digital edition.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/10/11/ps5-price-increase-usa-october-2023/amp/

PS5 is actually selling well despite all the annoying crybabies online. VG Charts estimates it's at 71 million sold now which is good but they also have a history of underestimating Playstation sales.

I've seen another estimate from someone from Instalbase that thinks they are actually about 73 million already.

The gap between Playstation and XBOX is now so big that it can't be bridged, no matter how much money Microsoft throws at the problem. Which is likely why they gave up and went multiplatform instead. Adapt or die.

I would guess its just about impossible for a new contender to enter the race with some brand new console at this point, as well. Software libraries are just too consolidated at this point.

@graymamba for Microsoft though, it was Gamepass or get out of the games industry altogether.

Nadella had no interest in spending a huge amount of capital and resource just to stay in an industry with a lot of competition and limited growth potential.

Now they've spend over a hundred billion, they'll probably stay in gaming if just to recover their investment, but if Nadella knew Gamepass wouldn't go anywhere, he'd have just axed the whole division

I'm tired that in the EU gadgets get handled as $ = € (+100€ oftentimes). Oh well, I prefer real health care over cheaper gadgets.

@Matroska what a post! I love when people think logically! Inflation comes into play with so many things but people never take it into consideration. Expect for when they’re talking about eggs for some reason… 🤔

@Mikey856 God Of War: Ragnarok is the most beautiful game I’ve ever seen on console! All real-time renders that have 0 sharps edges unless they’re supposed to. I’m currently shooting for the platinum and I’m taking longer than expected due to photo mode lol.

@ChrisDeku I would argue that Nintendo has always struggled with third party support with every generation (may change with tyhe Switch 2), but obviously their first part games is what we are most interested in.

It would be interesting to get figures on the pro considering its high price. Personally I hope it’s selling well to increase the chances of more games supporting it.

The Sony monopoly is going to be great for us consumers... Hope people are going to be happy paying more from now on lol

@get2sammyb please, do name the other consoles competing considering Xbox has now rather irrefutably failed according to figures in the article

@nomither6 “ outside of mario kart , smash bros and goldeneye - was there any other reason people had a n64 for the most part & wasn’t it seen as a couch-co-op machine ?”

Back in the day, those were basically “forever games” like Fortnight, and they were killer apps to boot. Don’t forget Mario 64. So those were very good reasons to own the console.

@MasterChiefWiggum majora mask and ocarina of time..

@OldGamer999 I thought you got mad and sold your PS5 Pro

@neillaw
PC, Steam Deck type devices, Switch. Maybe even include PS4.

@Shwing so PC has always been around, the others you mention are handheld which caters different customers, not to mention an entirely different spec level, the predecessor PS4 would have been even more relevant in the past and actually adds to the monopoly factor for Sony, so good mention!

I'm confused how there is more competition now when there is a distinct decrease in competition... Ultimately Playstation be it 4 or 5 or future does hold a monopoly now, so be prepared to pay more for your games in the future. We have already seen the price of the PS5 Pro and that's just the start

@johnedwin Absolutely. A healthy number of classic games on that console.

@neillaw
Yes PC has been around forever, but never as prevalent a gaming machine as it is now, and don't forget prior to this gen there were no PlayStation exclusives on it.
The switch is also a traditional plug into TV console. Things have changed over the years, and it's all about companies grabbing your eyeballs - That's the competition, your eyeballs for the limited time you have free.

@Frmknst This generation is only halfway and already has a great library of games.

Saying this gen has next to zero games is a real take.

Why do people on PC want so badly to see consoles dying?

@Frmknst Next to zero games? Homie, i think you need to check your eyes to the doctor like asap.

@Shrek_Realista It's their "master race" ego. They always see console gaming as inferior or for peasant thing.

@MasterChiefWiggum you’re right , so would you say that the ps1 was carried by its first party and multiplats or multiplats only ?

@Faruko by this time PS4 had a permanent price drop

This increase looks like Xbox players moving over to PlayStation. That’s terrible news for Microsoft to lose market share in their own territory.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare interesting writeup. thanks for sharing. according to your sources, it appears that the ps4 was at 90m units sold as of january 2019, which is about 5 years after the launch of the ps4 (launched in november of 2013).

ps5 currently sits at 65m units sold after 4 years on the market. unless the ps5 sells an additional 25m units before november of 2025, then the ps5 is absolutely NOT outpacing the ps4.

if gta VI releases this year, there is a good possibility that the ps5 will match the ps4 in sales as it will get a massive boost. without gta VI, i don't think the ps5 has a chance at selling an additional 25m units in less than 10 months from now. total lifetime sales should be interesting to see, but as we all know, sales aren't everything. even if ps5 outsells the ps4, that doesn't mean it was the better console. far from it.

@nomither6 Well, remember certainly at the start, there WAS no real first party. Sony started snapping up devs soon after, of course (Psygnosis, etc.) But I’d have to say it was a combination. You had games like Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot, and so on, along with great third party games like Tomb Raider and really good fighting game ports (a big deal in the ‘90s) like Street Fighter and Tekken. I think PS1 was successful because it was marketed as a cool gaming platform, AND it was where devs wanted to be due to the voluminous, inexpensive CD format. Sorry for the long response, but I hope that it made sense!