As has been reflected in other parts of Europe – like in France, where Sony currently is beating Xbox Series X|S by a ratio of 90 per cent – the PS5 has gained 51 per cent market share in the UK over the past six months. By comparison, Nintendo has just 25 per cent market share, while Microsoft has dipped as low as 23 per cent. In the House of Mario’s case, the Switch is in its twilight years, so a decline is anticipated at this point in its lifecycle.
This demonstrates serious growth for Sony’s device, as its overall share throughout the past 12 months is at about 43 per cent. It shows that the PS5 has been on an upward trajectory these past six months, while its rivals have declined. According to data analysts GfK, this is all due to aggressive price promotions and the release of Sony’s recent EA Sports FC 24 bundle, all of which have done wonders for Sony’s new-gen console in Britain.
The real worry for PlayStation’s rivals is that it looks like the Japanese giant is going to be even more aggressive in the run up to Christmas, with the release of its revised PS5 model and key titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. We could see its market share growing even further throughout the holidays, and with Sony forecasting 25 million console sales this fiscal year, it could potentially blow its competition away if it hits its targets.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 104
still cant help but feel Sony has become complacent and now money grabbing
price hikes to ps+
cheaper console to make in the ps5 slim but more expensive to buy
spiderman 2 sonys only first party ps5 exclusive release in 2023
they do all of this because they know they can get away with it and it doesnt effect sales one bit
@trev666 Why complacent? They’ve released a lot of products this year and been very aggressive.
Isn't the UK Xbox's second biggest market? It's definitely not looking good for them if they are about to be crushed in their second biggest market. 🫢
Go playstation get even more aggressive 😤 😆😆😆😆😆
I don't think MS really cares very much about the Xbox hardware anymore.
I don't know what sort of game pass numbers they preach they have when the Xbox hardware sells so badly.
Can PC gamers really represent that big of a contribution? If so, the xbox hardware really doesn't serve much purpose.
Ok i looked up some numbers saying xbox series sold 21m units. Gamepass estimated at 30m. Surely game pass doesn't have a 100% attachment rate. So maybe it's spread 50/50 with PC. Probably less cause an attach rate of over 50% on console would be impressive.
Still, with these sales numbers i don't know how Microsoft will prevent a bust.
My guess is they will bring it to mobile somehow.
@Nem Gamepass is technically already on mobile at least Android since they allow cloud streaming.
Quick Microsoft you’d better buy some more publishers. All jokes aside the only value proposition Microsoft have is gamepass. At some point they will have to put the price of that up a lot. I still question the long term viability of it.
PS5 disc COD bundle in the UK sold out in my shop and across all stores in the UK all 60 of them and in the main warehouse for home delivery by about 3pm yesterday afternoon. It’s was like a frenzy, like a day one console release all over again, even I didn’t expect them to sell that fast.
The same COD bundle deal was available for series x at the same price £409 we sold a few across all stores. The difference was staggering to say the least in sales.
@MrMagic They used to be during the 360/early XBOX one days, but I don't think they've been the second biggest market for a while now. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that its now Mexico.
@Nem
Microsoft need to care about consoles sale as that is were the gamers and general public the masses play games.
The game pass split is a little big bigger on consoles, so they should want to sell more consoles to sell more Gamepass.
I think they thought GP was going to be a hit but they got that wrong.
As we can see both Sony and Nintendo with their games and exclusives and the casual crowd are showing Microsoft this is what the general public want.
I really thought Starfield would turn things around for them. I've never seen a Bethesda game leave the public discourse so quickly
@ThomasHL It was the honeymoon phase of the game. Once everyone got past Starfield being a "Bethesda RPG" they started to notice the flaws of the game.
@ThomasHL
I’ve played about 30 hours of Starfield it is a good game but nothing special.
It’s in an old game engine modified and it really shows.
The in door graphics and fps are good and enjoyable.
But most of the planets graphic are poor
The inventory systems are annoying
The load times in and out of builds are slow and a pain and its systems are poor.
I’m not surprised it dropped off most gamers radar after a week and it was never gonna get the masses to buy an Xbox for sure.
It's insane how much more PS5 is selling compared to series X when series X is the more powerful console and has gamepass as a selling point.
Retailer's in certain countries at one point where using the Activision deal (when it was first announced) to say buy series X as soon COD won't be on PS5 amd that obviously didn't work.
People obviously still get swayed by big budget single player exclusive games and a more likely to stick to same brand when upgrading it seems.
They'll mess up before ps6. No-one has dominated 3 consecutive generations lol
I suspect that Microsoft is going to go the way of Sega and leave the console market. Why do they need XBox? They have the PC, they have mobile, they have GamePass, they have lots of tasty IP to farm out.
I genuinely hope that we will see GamePass on PlayStation one day. I have had enough of "exclusives". They are a relic of the 1990s.
I bought my PS5 about a year ago now and I must admit I’m disappointed with the variety of games they’ve had so far. Lots of open world games filled with expositional dialogue which is great for the core audience who like that sort of stuff, but there has definitely been a lack of Japanese style RPG’s (FF16 wasn’t an RPG), platformers, puzzle games, family games and just weird stuff like Parappa, Buzz, or the Last Guardian that adds a bit of spice to the lineup. This also applies to XBox as there is a lack of quality unadulterated fun in triple A gaming recently. It’s as if they’ve decided they can’t compete against Nintendo so they aren’t even trying anymore. Hoping they diversify the sort of games they make next year and appeal to the rest of their audience.
Sorry to be pedantic, but 90% is not a ratio.
It’s good to see PlayStation going strong despite Xbox buying everything up left, right, and centre. We need strong competition to MS’s financial power.
@MrGawain you and me both. nice profile picture by the way.
They had a bundle with EA Sports FC which helped them.
Now there are £399 deals with CoD MW3 all over the place. I can only see their sales growing at this point.
Sony know what they are doing.
@MrGawain too many remakes and not enough new ips this gen!.
I agree it's been disappointing in comparison to ps4s software where there was alot of fresh content
@MrGawain yeah, I agree with you.
I’m not into CoD or EA FC, or the mountains of FPS and Horror games, I prefer the JRPGs, adventure games, platformers etc.
The saving grace is I have such a large backlog of good games from last gen that I’m never bored. But clearly more needs to be done this gen.
I know Nintendo keeps delivering and Xbox have said they want to diversify. But I’m not sure what Sony will do.
@Oh_fiddlesticks Mexico is where Xbox have their biggest market share and they actually lead there and have done since the 360 but their market is pretty small overall. It doesn't crack the top 10 biggest video game markets so I'm unsure where it rank's but the most recent info I can find says that the UK was still Xbox's second biggest market based on amount of consoles sold.
@MrGawain Fortunately there are many great third-party games which are interesting and not already smoothed out like a pepple. I see the PS5 as a platform which offers a few great exclusives and PSVR2, compared to Xbox, but it is not groundbreaking at the moment. And sadly the most new IPs will be for Live Service BS.
@rusty82
It was done in the PS4 days and the PlayStation eco system grew and also had the COD and FIFA franchise deals etc.
The PS5 is just rolling in from there and no one going to stop them and definitely not Xbox.
PS5 has its thing and Nintendo has theirs and their mass followings. Xbox is almost niche at this point outside of the USA.
General public and the masses don’t care for Zenimax and Activision games really apart from COD which is on PlayStation for the next ten years.
Yes PlayStation will dominate again with PS6 along side Nintendo.
Quality always shines through, Microsoft should give it up. Nintendo & SONY will always reign supreme. Gsmepass obviously isn't saving them is it.
@Dr-zoidburg
The PS5 is not a patch on the PS4 games wise really. Not sure where PS4 was in year 3 games wise, but definitely remember playing my PS4 a lot more back in the day than my PS5.
Lucky I have Switch as well so I have enough games about.
Next year will be interesting for PS5 yes they dominate in console sales, but we could do with some new top AAA from Sony studio single player campaign games.
Not sure what they have for next year apart from third party exclusives. At the moment it looks a little bare. It would not surprise me if it was GOWR dlc and one big AAA from in house, also backed up with third party exclusive. Same as 2023 really.
Maybe they have put to much on GAAS.
@OldGamer999
The first 3 years of the PS4 first party output was actually pretty mediocre, almost all the good games came after that. The first three years had Bloodborne and Uncharted 4, other first party games were games like Drive Club, Knack, Killzone:Shadowfall, Infamous: Second Son etc.
@MrMagic The UK is a huge market for Xbox and arguably its most successful relative to its competitors. The Series X/S reached 2m sales in the U.K. in May 2023, which is 12 weeks faster than the Nintendo Switch managed.
@rusty82 Series X not most powerful, all in all they pretty much equal. Xbox used ad campaign stating Series X, the most powerful console on market!!
They forced to change this to Series X, most powerful Xbox on market!!
Game Pass great but PS+ have twice as many subs.
@ThomasHL Unfortunately, its because the game is simply not as good as the hype.
I played it 120 hours and would score it 8, but 20 of those hours at least are looking at loading screens - you'll swear the xbox has no ssd - and another 10 hours watching door opening animations 😊
Imo hi fi rush was the only trully excellent title xbox released last year, which is just not enough to stop the ps surge.
@Maddie47 "Who cares?
Real gamers have all three consoles anyway."
Whilst I too game everywhere, we are very much the minority. The bulk of people will want one macine and buy maybe three games a year. They are not going to pay best part of £1500 to simply increase their choice, especially when 90% of titles are on all systems.
For those of us who care about the buisness and craft of making games, trends expressed so clearly ARE interesting as they show what the public wants. In this case, its clear most of the buying public care little for sub services and will simply buy the 2 or 3 games they want each year. The undoubted value of GP has little allure.
The problem Sony currently have is to reach these sales numbers they are having to put the Ps5 on sale. The aggressive promotions and pricing was the reason they gave for their poor profits in the last quarter and they predict profit margins will be difficult going forward. It's why they have been restructuring and increasing the prices of everything, as they are not really making much profit.
While Sony are currently hitting record revenues, the profit is actually down on previous years like 2019, 2020 and 2021. The devil is in the detail
The trouble with games and Xbox I think being in management is.
A Sony and Nintendo developer make a game for one console. Imagine that focus one piece of hardware to get the most out of and its strengths.
Poor Xbox developer series x and s, PC and things to do with cloud I guess. That takes more time and resources and doesn’t use all the strengths of the series x if it was like just a PS5 or Switch.
@Sakai Historically every PlayStation made a loss during the first few years when they were selling the hardware at a loss and heavily pushing them. It was only in the middle to late years they were profitable. They will heavily push this year to hit 60m shipped by end of FY then after that they will employ more high margin behaviour.
@Sakai Sacrificing some profit now to saturate the market as much as possible is a smart move.
@ChrisDeku @MrMagic yes but profits are down even compared to the first years of the ps5, as they are having to discount the console heavily to reach these numbers. That's what the earning call revealed.
Because of the lower profits, they actually cut their M&A budget by 20% for example, so you can see how profit has a big impact on a business, even in the short term
@OldGamer999
While it is a development problem, it isn't one related to hardware. Its more on the game design/demographic side.
Xbox games are so NA-centric they fail to sell anywhere else in the world. And while selling on NA is good enough, it literally dooms your product in the long run.
Nintendo games are not tied to a specific demographic and they sell practically everywhere, Sony games gets so much flak but they aren't tied to a specific public and they still sell everywhere else.
MS games feels like they are tied to a specific public: your average 13~30yr dude bro who plays mostly FPS.
@CielloArc
Well perhaps it’s a bit of both.
But like I said if I was developing for just one console and using all its strengths it would be easier than developing for multiple systems.
It’s simple science.
@get2sammyb What products? We got like one game. And a vr game nobody cares about, and most people can't play. Sony used to release tons of games back then of different variety.
@Sakai discounting a macine to achieve significantly more market penetration is a very valid buisness stratgey. Profits this year hold steady with last years whilst sales are rising significantly. Given the income made from software sales (both 1st and 3rd party), achieving such market penetration is an excellent result, even it is surpresses profit growth this year.
It certainly seems like a much more sound and well proven buisness stratagey than spending $70 billion to get games on a service that isnt growing or driving revenue growth much?
I dont understand why you would present this as a bad buisness move? Sonys buisness competitors would jump at the change to achieve this much market penetration simply by supressing profit growth this year?
@Titntin I didn't present it as a bad business move, I said profitability is Sonys current problem, which is effecting things like their M&A budget and their current restructuring. You can have a sucessful business strategy that still puts pressure on certain aspects of a business you know.
I was merely discussing the detail provided by Sony themselfs in their latest earning call. They are Sonys words not mine. Does everything have to boil down to Sony v MS for you?
@Sakai Profits are down because the first few years of PS5 were extremely profitable due ironically to not having enough PS5 stock.
They're pushing their target hard, but 25m shipped in a FY is a PlayStation record, it's about 5m above any PS4 year. Its not just a big number, it's unprecedented. The huge install base will bring in all-time PS record profits for like 3 years in a row by the end of this generation.
@ChrisDeku it's going to be interesting to see how it all pans out. I think the target is going to be difficult to reach, but you can't help but admire their ambition, and I wish them the best of luck.
@OldGamer999 Why buy anything from MS if you get it free down the line. Gamepass cannabalizes the sales of the consoles completely.
@RedRiot193 You know you can run 3rd party games on your console this makes them money aswell. What do you expect 3 triple A games a year?
@Sakai You are not going to see the same profit as before COVID is away now for a while and people can go out.
@Flaming_Kaiser You must be young. Sony used to release all types of games. Different budgets and we got games almost all year round. But they stopped that and started focusing on big game titles. Their words too.
Sales figures are nice and all (and seem to make up most of the content on this site) but what about announcing some new games? Just a thought..
1% Atari? Or maybe Evercade?
@Sakai 'Does everything have to boil down to Sony v MS for you?'
Absolutely not. We are two adults discussing a set of buisness results. I would hope I could ask for clarification of your posts without it degenerating into such trivial nonsense?
"The problem Sony currently have is"
You opened this conversation suggesting Sony have a problem with these results. I am suggesting its not a problem and a very valid buisness stragey, and was interested in you expanding why you felt it was a problem?
Is it unreasonable to ask you this? I didn't think so, but if youd rather not discuss it, why did you post it?
Maybe it was wrong to compare with their main rivals buisness stratagey, but given its the only valid stategic comparison to make, I hoped I could do so without people engaging in the trivial nonsense of favourite plastic boxes.
Im still interested in why you believe the approach is a problem if you would care to share.
I would also prefer if you would not equate me to the console warriors I also despise.
If you would prefer not to engage, thats fine of course and I hope you have a lovely day.
I wonder what the Black Friday and holiday deals will look like for PS5. It's clear that all the recent deals like the MW3 bundle are only about clearing stock of the old PS5 model so will likely all be gone even before Black Friday.
@Titntin it was Sony who identified their profits as a problem, and noted it will be difficult moving forwards, not me. It is one of the reasons for their recent restructuring and lowering the M&A budget by 20%. They did not do those things because they were happy with the profit margins, that is why they are cutting costs.
It's hard to see past the warrior when your first assumption was some 'whataboutery' towards MS , while simultaniously dismissing their current business strategy, when they were not even mentioned, and then defending Sonys.
I was discussing Sonys earnings call and what they have told investors, and included a quote from Sony themselfs.
Enjoy your day mate, I'm off out to watch the football, fingers crossed the toon win!
@CielloArc haha! Correct. You can type "oversized cartoonish muscle bound space marine with an oversized gun looking out over an alien planet" into an AI art designer and you've got your next Xbox exclusive concept done in seconds.
I remember when young and playing Xbox at a friend's house they loaded up stuff like Halo and Gears, and I was just like... 😬👀 Should I say something?... It was like a continuation of plastic action figures, but for teens... And yet it's played by people that if you say "it's like you're playing action man" to, they'd want to fight you 😂😂😂 so strange no one sees that connection
@Sakai Enjoy the footy!
I had read various buisness analysis that suggested Sonys fiscal tightening was the result of poor results in the other buisness units, and that the gaming and network services results were helping prop up the other units.
This made sense to me, as profits are the same as last years, and last years profits didnt result in the same level of fiscal tightening?
I'll freely admit Im no expert in interpretting corperation results though, partialy why I was trying engage with someone who appeared to know more. My own thoughts and analysis may be well off the mark of course, Im happy to admit I can be wrong on many things (just ask my wife!) I guess future results will show if PS have a problem or are playing a good hand.
Thank you for engaging further. I hope future conversations can convince you Im platform agnostic. I mentioned the opposing stratagey as this article is comparing one with the other - it was completely on topic.
I love the people in the comment section who still try to desperately make out gamepass is a failure 😂😂 and do some quick math to back it up 🤣
Because they know how much it makes and how viable it is long term along wmand the plans of a trillion $ company 🙄🙄🙄🙄😅
@RedRiot193 Oh you mean it like that I agree on that point. I love the smaller games but as much as I love them do they sell. I loved the Japanese games we all get mad they closed them down but did they sell?
And yes i agree smaller games with a smaller budget would be great for everyone in certain Pixelopus should have given a smaller budget to let make a smaller gamer in their own way.
Man what i would do for a new Dark Cloud entry or a Syphon Filter and of course Legend of Dragoon. I would love for them to update their older games to play them again.
@OldGamer999 gamepass is doing pretty well. To the point that once again Sony tried to half ass copy it again 🤷
@Flaming_Kaiser
How does it do away with console sales.
Only if you have a good PC or don’t mind streaming at a lower quality.
@Titntin dont get me started on the old ball n chain (wife) i know how you feel! Just don't tell her I said that lol.
I know deep down you are platform agnostic mate as i have had some previous conversations with you, especially on pure, and read some of your brilliant insight into the industry. Your first message took me a little by suprise that's all.
But after your explanation I can perfectly see your reasoning was not one of malice
Going to be a difficult game away to Bournemouth as we have so many injuries. I wonder if Jim Ryan will be tuning in! Howay The Lads!
@OldGamer999 Read what most people are saying I'm waiting for it to come to Gamepass. It's free on Gamepass why would I buy it.
Yes why even invest with buying stuff on a platform like this when games have even less value because everyone gets them on Gamepass. And older games are even worse in that way.
@Flaming_Kaiser Fingers crossed for all the Level 5 titles coming next year eh? I'll never forget Dark Cloud, or Dark Chronicle and hope they can craft such compelling experiences again!
@Titntin If they do something like what they did with Demon Souls and update Dark Cloud it would be a lot cheaper because of the scale. Modernise the controls, graphical updates, higher framerate, resolution and im happy.
@CielloArc “ MS games feels like they are tied to a specific public: your average 13~30yr dude bro who plays mostly FPS”
This hasn’t even been remotely true since the 360 era…
@Flaming_Kaiser
I was more on about Xbox console sales.
Yes games of course I totally agree.
@Stickleman
I thought was doing well but sort of stagnated according Xbox.
@MrMagic Yeap it is, I sold my Series X though due to the ads being forced on you on it, all to pay for that Game Pass, not for me. Put the money towards new PS5 disk which I got for £380 from John Lewis, I know someone who works for Waitrose so they get 12% off, and that was on top of the special price promo on the EA football bundle JL we’re running. They had the COD MW3 pack for £410 the other day, Xbox can’t compete with that.
I would not be in the least bit surprised if this ends up being the last generation that there will be an Xbox to market. Getting trounced with these kinds of numbers by PlayStation will surely show Microsoft that, now with the huge amount of IPs that they own, their business future lies entirely on GamePass. Indeed, it won’t be like the GamePass that is out now, but would focus entirely on their own IPs rather than 3rd parties. I honestly can see GamePass being available on PlayStation by the beginning of the next generation. I myself would likely use it. Although I am not the biggest fan of some of the recent Xbox releases, I would definitely like to play future releases like Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 5 and Gears of War and it would save me the hassles of having to use a second console. A big negative would be the lack of completion would make for some interesting gaming for sure, but 3 years in and Xbox sales are declining will surely make some changes over at Microsoft.
@rusty82 Xbox may have more TFLOPS, but otherwise its hardware is not that powerful. Split ram and a slow SSD let it down, and it doesn't have Sony's IO magic (seriously how does that work) meaning many games run slightly better on PS5 - such as Elden Ring. Even so the difference is only a couple FPS, both when a game runs better on PS5 or XSX.
@rusty82 the majority of games on gamepass are indie games ,that the majority of gamers aren't interested in ,you ask the average gamer have they played inside or tunic they won't have a clue what youre on about ,ps exclusives sell consoles and thats a fact.
@Bionic-Spencer I know things can change, but leaked documents have said that they will release a next generation Xbox in 2028….
@thefourfoldroot1
You certainly are right (comment #17). I used to have an admiration for Xbox, but since their strategy has shifted to the Microsoft classic of trying to buy their success, I have lost all respect and have been most pleased with the opposite effect occuring (so far). Can you imagine how much trouble we'd be in if Microsoft spent ~$80B (Bethesda, ABK, and the four studios before buying Bethesda) and then just became #1 overnight despite decades of mediocrity? It would be an even bigger disaster.
@SlipperyFish
Correct. Gone are the days that only GPU and CPU power matter. There are so many other parts that contribute to the overall performance of a console.
Most people I know here in Ireland don't have an Xbox so tbh hearing this doesn't surprise me. I sometimes game on Xbox but I'll always prefer gaming on PlayStation Switch and PC/Steam Deck.
@TheCollector316 I wonder what the future looks like with the law of diminishing returns. Not much point aiming for more than 4k@60fps, SSDs get faster but will only save a few seconds loading. Other factors will become so much more important in the future.
My biggest wish would be ending game installs, basically reinventing the cartridge so we can have instant physical games again. I wouldn't be bothered if disc drives were just a usb plug-in accessory for backwards compatibility
Good. I hope Microsoft's strategy of trying to buy their success continues to not work and backfires.
Good work Sony and well deserved, I personally think ps5 is an amazing console. Love the reduction in loads times 😀
@Bionic-Spencer @rockodoodle The leak also said they're leaving gaming if Game Pass growth doesn't quadruple by 2027. Which makes it seem like someone at Microsoft who is above Phil Spencer has issued an ultimatum for the gaming division, "Become as profitable as our other divisions like Windows or we will shut it down."
@trev666 AND arrogant, since they’re running away with this generation (again).
This means that the arrogance, outrageous price hikes, and consumer unfriendly behaviour will only continue.
@get2sammyb Oh come on, with only one big first-party game in 2023 and nothing confirmed so far for 2024 plus a really bad showcase and price increases in everything you can’t possibly say Sony hasn’t been complacent recently…
@Grumblevolcano interesting. I wonder if they would just spin off the gaming division? Too many variables to ponder what happens if they don’t hit that goal. I think x4 is pretty unrealistic.
All I will say is that the PS5 is a very powerfull maschine and so is Xbox. Gamers have a lot to choose from these days.
I'm not surprised PS5 is going well, because it has PS4 compatibility. And if you look into history you can clearly see how huge damage PS3 suffered once it was stripped of PS2 compatibility. Yes, PS4 also didn't have PS3 compatibility, but it hasn't it from the start so people didn't feel robbed. Atop of it, PS4 was huge jump forward. So PS5 without PS4 support would be somewhere around Stadia.
@IOI As Sammy pointed out, this year they have released:
headset.
excellent dlc for HFW.
many consoles to market as possible.
All of this was done whilst also fighting MS in Court to try and prevent them from buying up yet another huge chunk of the industry.
You can argue they have been light on first party games this year, but with how long their games take to make these days this was to be expected at some point, especially after a year of GT7, HFW & GoWR.
If you think all of that is evidence of complacency, I would argue you don't know what that word means.
@Grumblevolcano Yeap and that will impact the quality, they can't keep spending 200 million per AAA game they put on the service, which is what they are currently doing, Ryan was right when he said it wasn't a sustainable model. Even MS has limits on how much it'll keep spending, it needs a return on the investment and that will mean more price hikes, a LOT more advertising on the Xbox platform you can't get rid of, and a harsh push for subscriber growth, I think in 2025 they will start making Xbox exclusives Game Pass only exclusive. Like State Of Decay 3 and Perfect Dark, we shall see though.
@djlard your comment is not only inconsistent but also untrue. The PS3 launched with backwards compatibility, its relatively poor sales were caused by its high price without much to offer. It was only when backwards compatibility was dropped and the consoles were cheaper that they recovered to finish slightly ahead of Xbox.
PS4 is also the second most successful PlayStation ever, despite no backwards compatibility.
I don't disagree that it was important for PS5s launch to have BC but I think that's mostly due to people skipping the pro and wanting to play the upgraded PS4 games on PS5. But without it, it would've sold just as well.
So as is often the case, Sony has been taken to majority share by either a FIFA or CoD title, those two most generic and stale game franchises lol. Yay I guess. I still think Returnal is the best thing on the system other than the Spider-Man titles, to be honest.
@Intr1n5ic Are we really going to justify a “light” year in first-party games with overpriced hardware that is mostly irrelevant to a vast majority of PS players?
Come on, it feels exactly the same as when Xbox fans used to excuse the lack of games with new controller designs…
And yes, of course I understand games take a long time to develop, MS has been heavily criticized for years about not having enough games each year and they are barely catching up, so if I complaint about MS all these years for not having enough games I don’t get why I can’t do the same for Sony when they had a lacking year.
Also, that doesn’t excuse the terrible showcase we had back in May where they didn’t show any single-player game from PS Studios other than SM2, instead we had a glimpse of the push for live-service games which honestly looks extremely unappealing to me.
They’re being complacent, there’s is no getting around it, but we can either try to excuse them coming up with the hardware they launched instead of games or demanding Sony to do better either launching or announcing more games or not overpricing their hardware and services, anyone who isn’t a fanboy would choose the latter.
@IOI So you actually don't know what complacent means?
"Are we really going to justify a “light” year in first-party games with overpriced hardware"
Who was justifying it with hardware? I said dev cycles are a lot longer than they used to be and years like this are going to happen more often going forward, especially following a year of several major releases. That has absolutely nothing to do with complacency.
As for the rest, what the new hardware releases mean for you has nothing to do with the overarching point. Complacent has a specific meaning and what Sony have been doing for the past year doesn't reflect that in any way.
@IOI Sony released more than people think in 2023 -
Spiderman 2
Horizon call of the mountain
Horizon burning shores
Firewall ultra
MLB the show 23
And all the hardware Intr1n5ic mentioned.
They aren't being complacent it's just those big budget AAA blockbusters are taking longer to make. If Sony could've went harder this year they would because they obviously don't want to give Microsoft an inch of ground so I very much doubt they are being complacent.
Yes well deserved and long may it continue,sony has been brilliantly aggressive with products and I personally love all the options what with portal,psvr2,dual sense Edge, ear Buds and headset etc etc ,long may the ps5 greatness continue
@MrGawain fair enough. The thing is sony is more like oriented mainly towards investing to get more money from the average audience not to support creative titles that have a much smaller audience and risky to work financially
@Maddie47 lol don't be silly with the "real gamers" line.
Reminds me of that sketch Jim Sterling did with Count du Hardcore.
It's ok to have one system only. There is no such thing as "real gamers".
@SlipperyFish They would sell maybe 10% of PS5 without BC, because there was maybe 2-3 games in first two years. Now it is maybe 5... and that won't sell hardware itself.
@MrGawain if you want a lot of what you say have you tried Nintendo ? Personally I think PS5 has been really good but I do luv the switch.
Sony is doing well, if history is any indication this can only end badly.
@IOI I think Sony's problem is the closure of studios like Japan Studio as well the as the removal of smaller scale games and remasters/remakes of pre-PS4 games. Given games take around 5 years to make nowadays, we can look back at 2017-2019's PS4 lineup and compare:
I don't think complacency is the right word. I think it's just that they reacted in a certain way to Microsoft trying to buy up everything (going all in on live service to be able to be self-sufficient) and it backfired.
@MrMagic People obviously don't know what they are talking about, Sony have released 4 games this year, 1 DLC, 2 new pieces of Hardware, A few big third party exclusives, some smaller acquisitions and a console revision. If that's complacent then some people have unreasonable high standards.
They also need to remember that Microsoft would have nothing if not for spending unrivalled amounts of cash on Publishers, otherwise in 24 months their only AAA would of been Forza Motorsport 😬.
What Sony is putting out and achieving is quite remarkable.
@djlard there was plenty of cross-platform releases my guy...
Disclaimer: Just my opinion. No need to respond and tell me why I'm wrong/try to prove me wrong.
The newer and cheaper build ps5 (thankfully not near the UK yet) feels a lot like the Spider-Man 2 "Limited" edition console. It's phoning it in with the easiest/cheapest designs devoid of quality that maximise profit. New PS5 owners will need to pay for a stand that I got for free. Regardless of if you need to stand for vertical (for digital version you definitely will) it should be free if the RRP is the same.
The Spider-Man 2 controller is effectively a black dualsense with Spider-man print on it and some white dualsense buttons to replace the black ones. The God of War controller was the closest we got to a truly unique design colour palette for a special edition that wasn't cannibalised from the production line. The hogwarts legacy dualsense was even worse. I'm aware Sony is a shareholded business that wants profit but there is a balance to be had to not take the customer for too much of a ride.
The newer colourways are a good step to correct this. And I hope there are some unique special edition colourways with the production lines in full swing.
I'm glad I have the older ps5, I enjoy the games but I do not enjoy the cheaper quality yet same price ethos they are going with. I hope any PS5 pro model gets that premium level of quality and innovation that I've come to know Sony for over the last 25 years. Maybe new UK players will be happy with the new PS5, but I'm not too sad that it won't be here until early next year.
@SlipperyFish So many reasons to NO necessity to buy PS5.
@ThomasHL That puts in perspective that infamous Phill Spencer quote, huh?
"There is no world where Starfield is an 11 out of 10 and people start selling their PS5s". The guy is a d*ckhead, but not stupid.
I imagine Phill now looking at MW3's reception as the words "Satya - Incoming call" come up on his phone.
@Boxmonkey everything Microsoft buys turns to ***** lol, they bought Activision and Bethesda and they both released this year their biggest gaming failures, you can say goodbye to those companies now
@UltimateOtaku91 Microsoft still has nothing, modern warfare 3 and starfield have been both failures.
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