PlayStation 5 now represents 50% of Sony's active console base
PS5 is Sony's most 'profitable generation to date'
Sony Interactive Entertainment has given an update on its console business, revealing that 50% of its users are now on PS5, with the other half on PS4.
In a company briefing, the platform holder said that PS5 is already on the brink of surpassing the revenue of PS4, and operating income is already bigger at $10 billion. In fact, the firm says that PS5 is the most profitable console generation so far.
More fascinating statistics can be found where consumers are spending that money. The firm revealed revenue per console is $731 for PS5 vs $580 for PS4, which is partially due to price rises (and higher tiers) on games, accessories and services this generation.
Spending on accessories is up 34% on PS5 vs PS4, services (PlayStation Plus, etc) is up 57%, while add-on content is up 176%. However, sales of games have dropped 12% over the previous generation, which speaks to the shift towards live service games and gamers engaging with fewer titles for longer.
Elsewhere in the presentation, the firm says it's been successful in upgrading its PlayStation Plus userbase.70% of PS Plus users were in the basic 'Essential' tier in the 2021/2022 financial year, with 13% in the middle tier (Extra) and 17% in the top tier (Premium). Whereas in the following year, that shifted to 65% in Essential, 16% in Extra and 19% in Premium.
In terms of its games release strategy, Sony committed to continuing to build AAA single-player narrative games, as well as more experimental concepts, alongside its new push into live-service projects. It says that live-service games will launch across PC and console at the same time, while the AAA single-player titles will begin on console and come to PC later. The firm says it hopes people who discover these games on PC will then move to PlayStation 5 to access the next game faster.