There’s a strong sentiment among gaming enthusiasts and the industry at large that consoles are a failing product and nearing their death knells. This opinion has been pushed broadly on social media and across specialist websites, despite it never really aligning with reality. It’s true that profit margins have slimmed as costs have increased and sales have been turbulent through testing circumstances, but both the PS5 and Nintendo Switch continue to sell incredibly well.
Mike Ybarra, a former high-profile Xbox executive and Blizzard boss, believes “those losing push the narrative that fits for them”. Writing on X (or Twitter), he said: “Consoles will never die in my opinion. If your strategy is to win the living room, you need exclusive hits because winning is both a platform and games perspective. Sony knows how to make hits, and how to pick the hits from others to be exclusive. If I was them I would double down right now because the blood in the water is all over the place.”
While he didn’t mention his former employer directly, it’s undeniably true that Microsoft has been building an “underdog” narrative among the media for years now – despite spending close to $100 billion on gaming acquisitions, including entire publishers like Bethesda and Activision. While it’s certainly never said it believes consoles are dying, at Gamescom earlier this year, Microsoft bigwig Phil Spencer said the industry is going to “change for all of us” as he explained his company’s reasoning for bringing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PS5.
There’s been much hand-wringing about PS5’s performance, with some under the false assumption that it’s failing, but it’s important to take stock of the actual facts. The new-gen console is actually trending 7 per cent ahead of the PS4 in the United States launch aligned. This is despite the semi-conductor shortage prompted by the pandemic causing the console to be all-but unavailable during its first couple of years on the market. Recently it’s posted some year-over-year declines, but only because the console registered remarkable sales in 2023, when it finally became readily available after the aforementioned shortages.
In Europe, the system is trending behind its predecessor, but its average selling price is also much higher. At this point in the PS4 generation, the system could be purchased for $300 and the $400 PS4 Pro was already available. Meanwhile, the PS5 Slim costs $500 with a disc drive included, and we’re still awaiting the release of the PS5 Pro, which hasn’t been officially announced by Sony yet. This is all important context.