[NPD] PS5 Sold More Than 620,000 Units in March, a New Record for PlayStation platform

[AshHunter216]

Let's make a list of things he did in his first 4 years:

• Released the -apparently as of now, launch aligned- most successful PS console ever
• 2 and a half years after release, its previous console, where their big majority of players still are, still has a great games support
• Broke all kind of console maker records from sales to userbase, to engagement or social media performance in gaming history
• Released the fastest selling PS exclusives ever
• Released the best rated PS exclusives ever
• Released the most awarded PS exclusives ever
• Acquired Insomniac, Bungie, Bluepoint, Housemarque, Firesprite (meaning, brought Liverpool Studio and Evolution back to Sony, also including Bizarre Creations), Nixxes and more
• Signed more 3rd party exclusives for this gen than in any gen before
• Made a record spend on 2nd party deals for this generation
• Started to build a SIE mobile gaming division
• Started to publish the SIE PC ports (not his idea, was already in the works)
• Started the PS Productions initiative with Sony Pictures for the PS IP movies and tv shows
• Their PC, mobile, GaaS, movies initiatives aren't at the expense on their focus on console and SP traditional games, which will continue their main focus and in fact are investing on them more than ever before
• Unified all their local marketing, PR, localization and 2nd party publishing teams into a single global team for each division to work more coordinated and be more cost effective and productive
• Created PlayStation Indies, leaded by Shuhei Yoshida to fulfill his passion and make sure they support indies more than ever, improve their relationship with them giving them better conditions and that unlike in the previous gen they keep supporting them permanently
• As part of the restructuring that branched away this 2nd party+indie publishing from Japan Studio, restructured its internal 1st party development to refocus it on its most successful internal development team: Team Asobi
• Highly increased the staff of all their teams to make them work on more games at the same time than before, including the 3 teams that resulted from splitting Japan Studio
• Merged and highly improved PS Plus and PS Now in all areas
• Released PSVR2 with the biggest and best launch window lineup of any VR device, for a cheaper price that the PSVR1 kit had at launch and with the best HW specs in the market

I think he did a really impressive job, a ton of things in only 4 years that all of them result on what hardcore fanbase care about: having more great games for their console.

In my opinion he needs to double down on their position in Japan and buy things like Square before they lose access when MS inevitably tries to go on a shopping spree over there. Hardcore Playstation fans also don't care about mobile or movies based on the games like a more casual fan might. Playstation will be successful under him, but Jim's Playstation doesn't remind me of the one that gave us stuff like Bloodborne, PSX events, entertaining live conferences, etc.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Estimates from install base forum

PS5
January : ~430K
February: ~570K
March : ~660K

Switch
January: ~270K
February: ~290K
March: ~310K

XSX+S
January: ~200K
February: ~250K
March: ~270K

You have to take their Xbox numbers with a grain of salt but even their estimates have PlayStation's share of the market increasing month on month. March would have it at 53% of unit sales and a much higher share or revenue!

Astounding.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Dead Space, Hogwarts Legacy, MLB and RE4 all have done great and they still have Jedi: Survivor, Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, FF16, Baldur's Gate 3 and Spider-man 2 before October hits.

I don't think Jim is terrible either, I just think he's not in tune with what the hardcore fanbase cares about.

Jim is just not a hype man and neither is Hermen Hulst. He hasn't done anything offensive and people mostly distort or blow up the things he has done out of proportion. His biggest mistake was not being upfront with some games being crossgen and that's about it. It's still too son to pass judgment on any other of his calls.

We can't hold it against Jim Ryan the fact that Sony might not be willing to play the acquisition game, unless we know for sure that he is the one dissuading them from doing so.

Ultimately what people want are games and so far they have delivered. 2023 is already in the bag so lets see what they have from 2024 ownwards. They don't have much announced yet but that is not necessarily a bad thing (but it could be if it turns out that the games are going to take a long time).

 

[ethomaz]

I think MVG maybe loosing his mind.

how can they be stockpiling if everything sells out?
So does that mean every month the sales have broke records they also stockpiled?

The replied

 

[ethomaz]

It's a joke

Check the replies… it doesn’t look like except for my own reply

 

[Yurinka]

Yes, thanks to their console sales.... as you can see subscriptions industry wide are slowing and full releases are selling well but there's not enough.....

Even if the amount of game subbers slightly declined (but it's mostly flat), Sony is making now by far more money from game subs that they did ever before.

I maintain a great PSX / showcase would be incredibly powerful coming up at the end of summer or close to Starfield launch and would completely demolish the competitions chances.

I think this will happen, but probably in the E3 ish dates once they are basically done with the PSVR2 launch window/FFXVI/SF6 marketing campaigns.

I also think that whatever big exclusive Sony may have in late August/September will destroy Starfield in sales. I think it may be Spider-Man 2.

The PC strategy isn't good, the launches have reflected badly on PlayStation and the sales have been poor.... except for Destiny...GAAS can still be strong on PC and be multiplatform day 1.

With the conservative estimate I did, their pc performance until the end of the fiscal year that ended this March seems to be pretty much on track with what they estimated.

Also, there aren't any visible negative effects on console. Hardware sales are great after getting rid of chips shortages and big releases perform better than ever: HFW was the best launch ever for Guerrilla, GT7 was the best launch ever for Polyphony, GoW was the best launch ever for -as I remember- any PS exclusive ever.

Yes, GaaS are strong with Destiny, GT7 and MLB. As Hermen said "possibly" "we may" see a GaaS day one on PC, but I don't expect it to be the norm.

I don't think Jim is terrible at all.... I just disagree with some of his ideas...

Yep, I know

 

[ethomaz]

Estimates from install base forum

PS5
January : ~430K
February: ~570K
March : ~660K

Switch
January: ~270K
February: ~290K
March: ~310K

XSX+S
January: ~200K
February: ~250K
March: ~270K

IMO I did not make any math yet but these Xbox numbers seems higher than NPD tell us.

Install base is working with Series being up YoY and having a better Q1 than related period for XB1

 

[Dabaus]

Estimates from install base forum

PS5
January : ~430K
February: ~570K
March : ~660K

Switch
January: ~270K
February: ~290K
March: ~310K

XSX+S
January: ~200K
February: ~250K
March: ~270K

It doesnt make sense to me that the xbox would go up every month same as ps5. If anything xbox should be going down the more ps55 goes up. PS'5's problem was being supply constrained, xbox's have been on shelves.

 

[ethomaz]

It doesnt make sense to me that the xbox would go up every month same as ps5. If anything xbox should be going down the more ps55 goes up. PS'5's problem was being supply constrained, xbox's have been on shelves.

It is a recorrent issue... when no work is said they assume Xbox is UP and PlayStation is DOWN.
Mat said PS5 is up but nothing about Xbox... so they can only assume Xbox is UP

 

[Nhomnhom]

 

[Yurinka]

In my opinion he needs to double down on their position in Japan and buy things like Square before they lose access when MS inevitably tries to go on a shopping spree over there. Hardcore Playstation fans also don't care about mobile or movies based on the games like a more casual fan might. Playstation will be successful under him, but Jim's Playstation doesn't remind me of the one that gave us stuff like Bloodborne, PSX events, entertaining live conferences, etc.

Nah, they are also doubling down in Japan:

• Polyphony team is growing
• Team Asobi team is growing
• Their Japanese 2nd party publishing team (now part of the global XDEV team instead of Japan Studio) is growing
• PS Indies team is growing
• Part of their record investment in 2nd party is for Japan: their Japanese 2nd party publishing team is working in more games at the same time than ever before, now also covering games from the rest of Asia (Death Stranding 2, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade and more)
• Part of their record investment in 3rd party exclusives is for Japan: Guilty Gear Strive, Ghostwire Tokyo, Forspoken, FFXVI, FFVII Rebirth, SF6, Silent Hill 2 remake etc.

And they don't have enough budget to buy Square Enix right now. Also, they already have many exclusives from them and they are the main market for SE. No need to buy them. If they don't want to sell they won't sell to Sony or Xbox, companies aren't bought like a bad of potato chips.

Looking at the success of Uncharted and TLOU yes, an insane amount of PS fans care about them. And these adaptation make a ton of money that later goes to SIE and gets reinvested on the games including the ones targeting the hardcore. Regarding FromSoft, they also have their own plans and pubilsh games with other people, so if they had signed Elden Ring and Armored Core VI with Bandai, Sony can't force them to stop them and work on something else instead.

You not caring about/liking something doesn't mean that the PS 'hardcore fanbase' don't like/care about it. Their insane success in basically all fronts means that their PS fanbase, including the hardcore one, cares and like them.

 

[Dr Bass]

I think MVG maybe loosing his mind.

how can they be stockpiling if everything sells out?
So does that mean every month the sales have broke records they also stockpiled?

Yeah don't you know? They were stockpiling for the Horizon DLC.

 

[KiryuRealty]

Yes, thanks to their console sales.... as you can see subscriptions industry wide are slowing and full releases are selling well but there's not enough.....

I maintain a great PSX / showcase would be incredibly powerful coming up at the end of summer or close to Starfield launch and would completely demolish the competitions chances.

The PC strategy isn't good, the launches have reflected badly on PlayStation and the sales have been poor.... except for Destiny...GAAS can still be strong on PC and be multiplatform day 1.

I don't think Jim is terrible at all.... I just disagree with some of his ideas...

Your . key seems to be sticking. You should really get it fixed.

 

[AshHunter216]

Nah, they are also doubling down in Japan:

• Polyphony team is growing
• Team Asobi team is growing
• Their Japanese 2nd party publishing team (now part of the global XDEV team instead of Japan Studio) is growing
• PS Indies team is growing
• Part of their record investment in 2nd party is for Japan: their Japanese 2nd party publishing team is working in more games at the same time than ever before, now also covering games from the rest of Asia (Death Stranding 2, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade and more)
• Part of their record investment in 3rd party exclusives is for Japan: Guilty Gear Strive, Ghostwire Tokyo, Forspoken, FFXVI, FFVII Rebirth, SF6, Silent Hill 2 remake etc.

And they don't have enough budget to buy Square Enix right now. Also, they already have many exclusives from them and they are the main market for SE. No need to buy them. If they don't want to sell they won't sell to Sony or Xbox, companies aren't bought like a bad of potato chips.

Looking at the success of Uncharted and TLOU yes, an insane amount of PS fans care about them. And these adaptation make a ton of money that later goes to SIE and gets reinvested on the games including the ones targeting the hardcore. Regarding FromSoft, they also have their own plans and pubilsh games with other people, so if they had signed Elden Ring and Armored Core VI with Bandai, Sony can't force them to stop them and work on something else instead.

You not caring about/liking something doesn't mean that the PS 'hardcore fanbase' don't like/care about it. Their insane success in basically all fronts means that their PS fanbase, including the hardcore one, cares and like them.

Their current Japanese studios (a racing studio and a small platformer studio that's stripped down from Sony Japan Studio) won't be enough if their competition starts buying up major players in the Japanese gaming industry. Xdev Japan also won't matter if all the players they would collaborate with belong to someone else. Sony mentioned in their acquisition budget statement that they could increase the allotment at any time if the need arises, so no they aren't incapable of buying something like Square and aren't limited by their current remaining budget. I also wasn't suggesting that Sony could force Fromsoft to make another Bloodborne at any time. I already explained why that was impossible to Elder Legend before he got banned, lol. Their 3rd party collabs look promising so far I'll admit, but rapid industry consolidation could make things like that much less common in the future. I just don't want to end up in a situation where Playstation is starved for Japanese content and up against an Xbox first party that's multiple times their size next gen because they waited too long to act in any significant way.

 

[Cool hand luke]

That's a wrap for this gen. Will wait for CMA to block the acquisition to celebrate the death of Xbox.

#shutdownxbox

 

[Nhomnhom]

Nah, they are also doubling down in Japan:

• Polyphony team is growing
• Team Asobi team is growing
• Their Japanese 2nd party publishing team (now part of the global XDEV team instead of Japan Studio) is growing
• PS Indies team is growing
• Part of their record investment in 2nd party is for Japan: their Japanese 2nd party publishing team is working in more games at the same time than ever before, now also covering games from the rest of Asia (Death Stranding 2, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade and more)
• Part of their record investment in 3rd party exclusives is for Japan: Guilty Gear Strive, Ghostwire Tokyo, Forspoken, FFXVI, FFVII Rebirth, SF6, Silent Hill 2 remake etc.

And they don't have enough budget to buy Square Enix right now. Also, they already have many exclusives from them and they are the main market for SE. No need to buy them. If they don't want to sell they won't sell to Sony or Xbox, companies aren't bought like a bad of potato chips.

Looking at the success of Uncharted and TLOU yes, an insane amount of PS fans care about them. And these adaptation make a ton of money that later goes to SIE and gets reinvested on the games including the ones targeting the hardcore. Regarding FromSoft, they also have their own plans and pubilsh games with other people, so if they had signed Elden Ring and Armored Core VI with Bandai, Sony can't force them to stop them and work on something else instead.

You not caring about/liking something doesn't mean that the PS 'hardcore fanbase' don't like/care about it. Their insane success in basically all fronts means that their PS fanbase, including the hardcore one, cares and like them.

FromSoftware and Arc System Works are pretty affordable and would drastically improve their internal development presence in Japan.

None of FromSoftware current plans go against what Sony would want from them unless they have some Xbox exclusive in the works. FromSoftware is actually pretty vulnerable to being purchased by MS because it's not a publisher.

What does Sony have to lose? Why would Hidetaka Miyazaki want to work for Kadokawa over Sony? He probably doesn't give a shit about his games being available on Xbox or not and would likely welcome more Sony tech and support and working only on PS5/PC.

As for PS indies, what teams are you talking about? It's not like they ended up buying the guys that made Kena, Stray, Sifu, etc or announced more games from them.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Totally meltdown for Xbox followers today. Jez Corden going mad not only because of today’s NPD. Funny though they don’t even play the games when they are available on Xbox, they just want a reason for their rants. But love to see him suffer. xD

 

[Johnic]

Why? About 5 people would play it.

Then again, these radicals are all about taking stuff away. It's 5 year-old mentality.

 

[Nhomnhom]

That's a wrap for this gen. Will wait for CMA to block the acquisition to celebrate the death of Xbox.

#shutdownxbox

Xbox dies either way.

If approved they'll have an enormous pressure to go third-party to make some easy money from Bethesda/ABK IPs.

If blocked the entire brand would be instantly nuked out of existence and become gaming biggest laughingstock.

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Xbox dies either way.

If approved they'll have an enormous pressure to go third-party to make some easy money from Bethesda/ABK IPs.

If blocked entire brand would be instantly nuked out of existence.

Hopefully the gaming world, would become so much more peaceful.