The PlayStation 5 is officially Sony's most profitable console generation to date, but more than a decade into its lifecycle, the PlayStation 4 still accounts for half of its player base.
During the presentation of Sony's Gaming and Network Services Business Segment yesterday (May 29), Hideaki Nishino, who has just been appointed CEO of SIE's Platform Business Group, shared the company's latest figures, where confirmed that after almost four years of its cycle, the PS5 revenue has almost reached all other consoles combined (via VGC).
“As you can see, the PlayStation 5 user base has continued to grow significantly, reaching half of our monthly active consoles,” Nishino said. “While PlayStation 4 remains an important part of our business, our PlayStation 5 players are even more engaged than in our previous generation and we expect these trends to continue.”
According to the filing, 97 million users make up PlayStation's monthly active users, and the PS4 makes up exactly half of its monthly active users with 49 million users.
In terms of participation, 2.4 billion total hours of gameplay have been invested in the PS5, while 1.4 billion have been invested in the PS4.
Since 2020, the PS5 has sold 56 million units and, according to Sony, users of the platform are spending more money (+176%) on complementary content, +57% on services and +34% on peripherals.
However, users are spending 12% less money on full games, despite the PS5's hours of engagement.
Hermen Hulst, CEO of SIE's Studio Business Group, added that Sony's flagship games will be existing successful franchises and “new IPs with great ambition” from “studios with a proven track record of quality and success.”
The company will also focus on expanding its live service games with ongoing content, while experimenting with other opportunities that will “unlock new audiences” and “target new genres.”
Over the past few months we've been hearing rumors about the PlayStation 5 Pro. Although Sony hasn't announced its next major console, reports suggest the next generation will be arriving soon and will see a substantial mid-gen jump that will be “45% faster” than the Original PS5.
