For the first time, there are more users on the PlayStation 5 than there are on the PlayStation 4 as they shift their focus to the next console. Today during a business meeting Sony confirmed as much with a variety of slides giving us a glimpse into the PlayStation business.
In their annual meeting, Sony provided us with a ton of data and insight into the gaming side of their large business. Of note was the fact that for the first time the PlayStation 5 userbase has surpassed the PlayStation 4 userbase in terms of active player.
While they didn’t give any exact splits the graph they displayed clearly shows the PlayStation 5 section being larger. We should note that this year shows the combined active userbase at 124 million, well up from last years 97 million.
"The PlayStation 5 offers the best way for players to experience our content, and as such, its player base has continued to grow," SIE president and CEO Hideaki Nishino said during the meeting.
"These players are highly engaged, spending more on content and services than in prior generations. However, the PlayStation 4 remains an important access point for existing players to experience our content and services, and we remain committed to serving them."
PlayStation 6 Is Top Of Mind
While the PlayStation 5 base continues to grow Sony has begun to shift their focus to the next generation, safely assumed to be the PlayStation 6. Some had wondered how that may look considering their competition’s shift to cloud gaming, but rest assured Sony is fully entrenched in the console space.
"We now have a large ecosystem of highly engaged players across both the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation 4 generations," he explained, "so naturally, therefore, there's a huge interest in our next generation console strategy.
"While we cannot share further details at this stage, the future of the platform is top of mind. We are committed to exploring a new and enhanced way for players to engage with our content and services."
While Nishino wouldn’t outright talk about the PlayStation 6 he did confirm that they will continue to create a traditional console and that it drives their business for them and that they don’t appear to be at all interested in devaluing their console by bringing games to other platforms, outside of some PC releases.
Committed To PC Stratregy
Speaking of their strategy on PC, Nishino says they will continue to strategically release games on the platform, but will not do so at the detriment of the console. While some multiplayer focused releases have launched day 1 on PC, such as Helldivers 2, they have remained committed to keeping their single player games on PlayStation first.
"We continue to look for new and innovative ways to broaden our reach and bring our content and service to the players,” says Nishino. “The value of the PlayStation console is that [it’s] still the best place to play, and it’s growing its reach in even broader ways.”
Studio business group CEO Hermen Hulst also weighed in during the meeting and spoke about how they are taking a measured approach.
“It’s important to realise that we’re really thoughtful about bringing our franchises off-console to reach new audiences, and that we’re taking a very measured and deliberate approach in doing that,” he says.
"Particularly on the single-player side, our tentpole titles; they’re such a point of differentiation for the PlayStation console. They’re real showcases of the performance and quality of the hardware, so we want to ensure that players get the best experience from these titles. We’re very thoughtful about how, and if, we bring these titles to other platforms.”
Based on this it seems like we will continue to see PlayStation games release on PC at least a year after their initial launch. As the PlayStation 5 closes in on 80 million lifetime units sold, their plan appears to be a good one.
