Sony says there is no trend of PlayStation users switching to PC and no big risk of player outflow
Sony has addressed concerns about the PlayStation 5 console’s sales figures and denied rumors that long-time PlayStation gamers are abandoning the platform in favor of gaming PCs. In a shareholders’ meeting held on November 8, the company commented that they haven’t observed a trend of PlayStation owners hopping over to PC, nor do they see it as a major risk.
For some background, recent discourse in Japan has suggested that people are opting to pick up other consoles or even gaming PCs instead of PlayStation 5. These concerns were triggered by Sony putting up the price of its standard PS5 models up by 13,000 yen in Japan. This prompted PS5 shortages and increased Xbox sales in the run-up to the price change going into effect on September 2.
Then, when the PS5 Pro’s price was revealed to be 120,000 yen, gaming PC retailers in Japan took the opportunity to convince customers that a PC would be a better choice (whilst PS5 Pro price reactions on social media overseas were wistful for the old days of PlayStation price mic drops). Japanese social media was also awash with concerns about the price, with people championing the merits of a gaming PC over a PS5.
Sony PS5 sales performance
Unsurprisingly, questions about the PS5 and its sales performance were brought up in a recent Q&A session at Sony’s November shareholders’ meeting. In response, Sony reported that they are on track to meet their annual PS5 sales target of 18 million units. They also added that they have observed a healthy trend of PS4 users upgrading to PS5. Furthermore, these users tend to buy more games when they make the transition between console generations. As for the concerns that PlayStation users are picking up PCs instead of PS5s, Sony stated that “we didn’t confirm any such trend at the time, nor do we see it as a major risk.”
As for the PS5 Pro and its hefty 120,000 yen price tag, Sony states that the more powerful version of the PS5 is targeted at a high-end market of core gamers.Therefore, they are not expecting a large number of PS5 Pro units in their overall PS5 sales this year.
