The end of the delivery problems creates a new PS5 situation: the console is not only starting to dominate the hardware charts. The PlayStation 5 was also able to break an almost 20-year-old US record.
The PS5 continues to thrive after two years of delivery issues. Already we reported yesterdaythat the console was able to dominate the charts in February in terms of sales and unit sales.
At the same time, an 18-year-old record was broken last month: In 2005, the PlayStation 2 had the most successful February ever for a PlayStation console in the USA – until now. In February 2023, the PS5 went one step further.
This was pointed out by Mat Piscatella, Executive Director & Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana, in a series of tweets about the latest US charts.
First, a follower asked, “Did the PS5 set a new sales record for the PlayStation brand in February?” I think PS2 2005 is the record.” She was answered by Piscatella as follows: “For a single PlayStation platform, yes.”
Enormous sales growth was recorded on the US market last February, for which the PS5 was primarily responsible: the console was the best-selling hardware platform in February and in the year to date in terms of unit numbers and dollar sales. Year-to-date hardware spending is 29 percent higher than the same period in 2022, according to Piscatella.
No more Xbox necessary
While Sony is posting more than 32 million PS5 shipments and Microsoft is still reluctant to release hardware numbers, it seems the Xbox maker won’t be able to match the competition.
DFC Intelligence also recently expressed the view that Microsoft’s recent acquisitions and post-acquisition titles transitioned to exclusive releases will not have a significant impact on console sales.
“These titles have been expected for some time and have probably already been factored into the purchase decision. On the contrary, if a title like Starfield doesn’t live up to expectations, it could hurt Xbox Series X/S sales.” according to the analysts.
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DFC Intelligence went a step further and doubted that there will be a need to buy an Xbox console in the future, since the exclusive games will also be available for the PC from launch day and the cloud can be used as an alternative.
Building on that, analysts estimate that “core gamers will buy a PS5 and Nintendo Switch” and subscribe to Game Pass to play the Xbox titles they’re interested in on PC. “There’s not much need to buy Xbox hardware,” according to DFC Intelligence.
Consoles are long dead
In fact, Microsoft is aiming to appeal to billions of gamers, with the cloud and Xbox Game Pass, among other things, supposed to help. The company is a long way from that goal and other companies like Google have already halted their game streaming plans.
In this sense, it is also noteworthy that 15 years ago a former Microsoft executive assumed that within “five to ten years” the console industry would be dead and “cloud computing” would take over.
“The industry is fundamentally driven by technology. I think dedicated gaming devices ie consoles (and handhelds) will die out in the next 5-10 years. The business model is very risky and the costs involved in developing new hardware are unbelievably high,” said YoYo Games founder Sandy Duncan, who was previously responsible for Microsoft’s Xbox division in Europe. in the year 2008.
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How things will continue with the PS5 in the coming months and years remains to be seen. This also applies to the rumors about a new model with a removable drive, the to be launched this year.
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