Half of all PlayStation players still don’t have a PS5

Adam StarkeyPublished May 17, 2024, 4:57pm|Updated May 17, 2024, 5:00pm

PS5 Slim console — PS5 sales are slimming down (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

As PlayStation 5 sales start to slow down, Sony has revealed half of the entire PlayStation userbase has not upgraded to current gen hardware.

So far, the current generation of consoles hasn’t exactly lived up to its promise, with very few exclusive games being released that are designed to push the hardware to its limit.

There are many reasons for this, between consoles launching amid a pandemic which led to shortages, the rising costs of making AAA games, and hardware generally reaching a technological ceiling where the differences are less noticeable.

Another crucial problem, as detailed in a recent report, is that many people are simply happy playing games like Fortnite and Minecraft, and have no need to upgrade. Which seems like it could explain the recent decline in PlayStation 5 sales.

This stunted console leap, as shown in new data from Sony, has meant a large portion of the PlayStation user base still hasn’t made the jump to the PlayStation 5, which first launched in late 2020.

As reported earlier this week, Sony has sold 59.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles worldwide. While impressive, sales are down 29% on last year – with Sony admitting the console has already peaked.

In the same financial report, Sony said PlayStation has 118 million monthly active users, which means at least half are still playing on PlayStation 4. Some of these numbers could be playing on older consoles as well, like the PlayStation 3 or PS Vita, but that will likely be a much smaller amount.

Earlier this week, Sony made headlines for PS5 reaching 59 million units sold. Good number!

Sony says PS5 is in the 2nd half of its lifecycle

Sony also said PlayStation has 118 million monthly active users–half still on PS4

Get that?

HALF of PS players aren’t on current gen
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) May 16, 2024

While it’s normal for previous gen hardware to still have a sizeable playerbase following a new console (the PlayStation 2 was supported long after the PlayStation 3 came out) the amount of players still on old hardware after four years is more than usual – and partly explains why there’s less PlayStation 5 exclusive games hitting the market.

Another reason for the lack of exclusives is because Sony and Microsoft are both pushing towards launching games across multiple platforms to boost profits – which has proven successful with the likes of Helldivers 2 and Sea Of Thieves.

For Sony, the way to counter these declining PlayStation 5 sales might be to incentivise PlayStation 4 players to make the jump across systems – which could involve a price drop ahead of the upgraded PS5 Pro, that is expected to launch this year.

Sony is also rumoured to be working on another handheld device, focused on playing PlayStation 4 games, which could also act as a bridge between the two systems.

We might hear more at the upcoming PlayStation Showcase which is rumoured to take place at some point this month – although an exact date is yet to be announced.