Half Of PlayStation Players Still Haven't Upgraded To PS5

It's like all we heard about the PS5 was that it was super hard to get when it came out and then it kind of disappeared from our collective consciousness

And it's still out selling the Xbox...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/05/15/analysts-ps5-outsold-xbox-almost-5-to-1-this-past-quarter/?sh=7b1813f72539
- XBox has always been a weird console. It never really competes with Nintendo because NIntendo always does its own general thing and also slides neatly into the kids and family market. So it competes with Playstation by default. Except Playstation actually has contracts with good studios to make exclusive games. What's a non-Halo exclusive for the XBox? Back in the day, you'd play games like Gears of War, Halo (obviously), Fallout 3, Psychonauts, KOTOR, COD, etc. I can't think of a single meaningful game on the most recent generation for the XBox.
Yeah that and it's still super expensive and does not have system sellers for me. Eg. Uncharted.

Also I don't need another PC, thank you.
It is still super hard to get
- I've seen them stocked in my local stores for the past year. The Xbox series X/S as well. I kinda thought it was like that everywhere now? Are they really still sold out and being scalped for crazy mark up prices where you live?
It did? Who's collective consciousness are you attached to? It's a huge fucking hit.
- Well, the numbers show otherwise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_5-only_games

Gee, wonder why.

That's a good thing - as the consumer.

The less exclusives, the better. We don't need lock-ins, we need open platforms and open systems. If I want a plug&play gaming experience I can buy a console, if I want maximum performance and quality in a more maintenance and setup intensive package I can build my own PC.
- For real - it’s so nice nowadays being able to play nearly any hot new game I want to on my desktop. Never been a huge fan of consoles - keyboard+mouse was always far more natural for me, but then again I was big into C&C and SC when I was a kid. The only console I’ve really loved since the N64 is the switch, and that’s largely because I can bring it on a long flight and fuck around in ZELDA: BOTW or TOTK for hours on end, which is awesome (I tend to avoid putting games on my personal dev laptop, and it also only has an iGPU).
- its almost like it needed the exclusives to be worth it
Here are the trends with previous consoles:

PS1 : 455 -> PS2 : 512 -> PS3 : 180 -> PS4 : 58 -> PS5 : 15

Xbox : 106 -> Xbox 360 : 214 -> Xbox One : 12

Nintendo 64 : 129 -> Nintendo Wii : 328 -> Nintendo Wii U : 38 -> Nintendo Switch : 174
- And that’s why the newest console I own is a Switch, and everything else I play is on PC.
- That's super interesting. Do you have a source you could link for this data?
- Now do the same for PC
- So the Xbox one series (aka Xbox one 2) has zero dedicated games?
- where is the GameCube or xbox series?
Jesus, only 4 games in that otherwise short short list ring a bell for me.
Its a good time to be a PC player. I mean, it was before. But it is now, too.
Shouldn't FF16 also be on this list? Given that FF7 Rebirth will almost definitely see a PC port, I don't think the ongoing development of an FF16 PC port should exclude it from the list.

"meaning the other 59 million must still be using the PlayStation 4."

That's not what that means.

As of last December there were still 2 million active PS3 users.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/12/26/ps3-monthly-active-users-report/

I'd imagine there's still a limited number of PS Vita and PSTV accounts too.

Hacked Vita is still great.
- Hacked Vita with RetroArch is so so so much fun!!
- Hacked vita is goated
- I had a lot of fun with my Vita even without hacking it. It had a longer lifetime than people realize, in part through digital sales and indie games that were planning to do PS3/PS4 releases anyway.
I stopped at the PS2.....
- Still the best console of all time so that's a pretty solid stopping point
- I don't think PSN applied to the PS2, started with the PS3.
Was gonna say, I never bought a PS4. My PS3 is still kicking.
- I just got a second one because it was peanuts and came with two good controllers while mine are all kind of subtly broken.
  
  I do actually have a PS4 with 5 controllers because once bit. I don't know if I'll find the time, but if I feel like playing something stuck on the three like infamous or demons souls, I can.
  
  Maybe I'll get the 5 one day. And maybe I'll find that emulation can solve the old title problem.
One of these years my children will discover the PS3 hidden unused in the entertainment center since they were born, and there'll be 2mil+1. Muhaha.
- When a new generation starts, I hook it up in the living room, move the previous gen to the bedroom, and mothball the oldest gen.
  
  So when I kick off, my kid, or grand kids, are going to discover organized boxes of gaming gear. I'm sure it will be all over whatever passes for social media then. :)
  
  Currently:
  
  Living Room - PS5, Xbox Series X, Steam Deck Dock.
  
  Bedroom - PS4, Xbox One X, Switch.
I still use my PS3, enough great and cheap games and can play my PS1 and 2 games on the big screen with wireless controllers.

Newer games I play on PC anyways.

My ps5 is basically a really big PS4 lately.

Yeah, but at the same time it makes the PS4 games a much better experience. I dunno if that justifies the spend for a lot of people, but I don't regret getting one.
It also doesn't help that a bunch of games have an upgrade charge, I mostly just use it for Blu-ray lately.

For me, it was:

You couldn't get one for ages when it came out, so I missed the initial hype period.
When it did finally become available, it was prohibitively expensive.
There are no real killer exclusives or features so no particular reason to upgrade, aside from games looking nicer.
Sony is releasing all the good stuff on PC now, so if I want to play a nicer-looking version of a PS4 game I can just do that.
Steam Deck

Well, I can only speak from my own experience.

When the PS5 launched I wanted to upgrade but you literally couldn't get it because it wasn't in stock anywhere. You could only find it on eBay of some private seller that started at almost double the price, no, thank you. Then Sony introduced this "Register and on the next event you get a slot to buy one from the official Website" which was great. I got invited the first time and literally couldn't buy it because the website was broken. Whenever I wanted to select my payment method the checkout got blank and there was nothing you could do. Even worse was that you couldn't hard refresh the shop because this would have killed the session that the website needed to allow you to buy it. So, even switching browsers with the same "invitation link" didn't work. I reported this to the support, but they didn't really care. half a year later, I got my second invitation link and the same happened then as well. I reported it again to the support, but they still didn't know what to do with that information or wanted to troubleshoot this.

And now, there isn't really a need for it anyway. The Games that I would have wanted to buy on the PS5 released on the PC.

Rise of the Ronin and demon souls are the only things I’m missing. I tried to find one without botting for awhile before I gave up. Rather thankful I did lol.

All the greatest recent games run super well on the Steam Deck, so there's no need for a giant console cosplaying as a router.

All the greatest recent games run super well on the Steam Deck

I get what you are telling here, but it's not 100% accurate, generally speaking. It might be true for you personally. I own a first gen Steam Deck myself and its just a complementary hardware to my PC (and wonderful at that). It does not run all greatest games at all or in some cases limited and problematic. So "super well" is a little bit exaggerated, but that does not take away how fantastic the device is.
Right? I've had the Xbox since the beginning, didn't get the last upgrade and finally sold the One to get a steam deck.

it has no games and was plagued by availability/price issues for a BIG while there.

why should anyone buy it?

Blind fanboyism?
I said I wish I hadn't purchased the PS5 due to the poor library of games in comparison to the PS4 era on Reddit. Proceeded to get downvotes.

PS3 lets me play online for free. Later consoles don't.

PS3 plays CDs and stores media files on its internal hard drive. Later consoles are limited to external storage solutions for media playback (and no, streaming doesn't count).

PS3 has a snazzy user interface. Later consoles have... a user interface, I guess.

PS3 plays PS1 disks. Some models even play PS2 disks. None of the later consoles do that, having a strong reliance on digital downloads for PS1 and PS2 compatibility, meaning some games are straight up limited to the earlier consoles.

PS3 even lets me transfer games and media to a PSP or PS Vita through a USB connection. Guess what, the later consoles straight up don't do that.

Don't have an HDTV? PS3 works with composite, component, and even S-Video in addition to working with HDMI. It even downscales Blu-ray Disks to fit on your super small screen. Got an HDTV? PS3 upscales your DVDs to fit your super big screen. Later consoles only work with HDMI, and I'm not sure if the upscaling/downscaling thing with DVDs and Blu-ray even works or not.

The choice is yours.

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- Someone else mentioned the lack of a browser on the PS5 too. This doesn't apply to PS4 so I didn't mention it in my comment.
I've recently fallen in love with the PSWii60 generation of gaming and playing a lot of PS3 games. It might be the best console ever made.

I upgraded to PC running Linux instead

I still don't have a 4k TV either. The PS5 is friggin HUGE. My space is at a premium.

You know what? I barely play the games I already have. I should just go to the gym.

Sometimes I forget it is a thing.

PS5 owner here. Me too.

If they would make them backwards compatible I would be more likely to upgrade it still bugs me that they stopped doing that. I miss my old PS3. That thing was awesome I even installed Linux on it and had emulators working… the good old days.

You can (and I have) play PS4 games on PS5.

First thing I did when I got the PS5 was buy a bunch of cheap used PS4 games for it.
- I didn’t realize I was assuming that was over. Well good on them. Long live the used game market!
It is backwards compatible, though?
- Yeah my mistake. It is with ps3 games. My default is to think everything is terrible now. It wouldn’t be that hard to support back to ps1 I’d pay extra for the option.
I have appreciated the backwards compatibility of my Xbox. The studio closures and dearth of games, less so
- Get a PS5 and become less than appreciative about bad backwards compatibility AND studio closures.

I still have a PS2...

I have a ps1, 2, 3 and 4, a psp, a vita, I also have a NA snes, OG xbox, xbox360 and xbox one. I pretty much don't play with any of them, I work too much...

The PS5 doesn't even have a browser because they're scared of exploits

Why not just have some hardened Firefox with auto updates instead of licensing a browser from a company specialized in exploitable browsers for consoles? Nobody uses netfront, why Sony and Nintendo are so obsessed with it?

I play, like, fine games. In very irregular binges. Why the fuck would I shill out 500 Euros, to raise my binges' fps?

I only bought a ps4 well after the 5 dropped, and only because my pal had got a new xbox and wasn't playing with his ps4 anymore. Long story short I got the ps4, 3 controllers, and 5 hardcopy games for £50 and a joint. Until I can get a ps5 for that....I ain't upgrading

Surely they're all just waiting for the PS5 pro? That will solve it! /s

Or, seriously, a PS5 slim. (Actually slim, not the slight redesign they did.)

Most people don't need the newest and expensive tech. From the last 30 days of active games on Playstation brand, here a split PS3/PS4/PS5 (I just show a ratio that is set in relation to the numbers of players for the game), meaning left side is older console:

https://ps-timetracker.com/statistic/last-30-days

- / 42 / 14 Fortnite (3 times)
- / 3 / 2 Roblox (1.5 times)
0 / 33 / 9 Minecraft** (3.7 times)
- / 14 / 9 Cod:MW2 (1.6 times)
- / 38 / 12 GTA V (3.2 times)
- / 23 / 8 Rainbow Siege (2.9 times)
- / 26 / 8 Apex Legends (3.3 times)
- / 17 / 7 Overwatch 2 (2.4 times)
- / 1 / 1 EA Sports FC 24 (1 time)

Edit: I have added simple math result in how many times the PS4 player base is big as the PS5 player base. Just out of curiosity and to provide a quicker way of scanning through the list.

(**ps3 players almost at 0 level for this game)

As you can see, all games are available for PS4 and they run decent enough, are multiplayer games and the new consoles do not offer anything substantial for these kind of players.

IMO improving graphics technology is a case of diminishing returns. Sure you can always make a better looking game by throwing more processing power at it, but that has (at best) a minor effect on things like gameplay and story. Like seriously, if Squenix had decided to make FF7: Rebirth in the PS3 era, other then some uglier graphics how much would the game have have been different?

And (to actually tie this in to the thread) that's the reason PS5 sales have been so sluggish. What do you really need those PS5 graphics for? I mean my PC is still running hardware from 5-10 years ago, because there isn't anything I really need to upgrade for. Most of what I've been playing is indy titles and for the few graphic intensive games I want to play they'll usually run if I lower some graphics settings.

Exactly this. I'll always maintain a game will be and will remain prettier is an artistic style than an ultra realistic style. It just takes up resources that could be used elsewhere for the sake of looking pretty for the next 3-5 years before the "Uhh muh Guuhhhhd, it looks so realistic" ages like milk. Games like Wind Waker and Okami still look gorgeous today.
And Nintendo proved this right by making successful games on underpowered systems. The switch it's basically an Android tablet from last decade sold with crazy markup but talented game designers make compelling games

Sure, in the store they have 3rd party do lazy shitty ports like this https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/jello-run-switch/ but I feel it has more interesting games than the photorealistic ones on PS5, except the masterpieces by insomniac studio, but those can also be played on PS4 or PC

All the games are in both consoles. If amything, it's dragging down PS5 ppl.

here comes ps6

I could have waited it out probably another 2-3 years if I wasn't gifted one. Still have LOTS of PS4 titles I've been meaning to play. In fact, most of the games I play on my PS5 are PS4 games.

I've been holding out for an eventual PS5 Pro version since day 1. The base PS5 having less space than my stock PS4 Pro was the biggest dealbreaker for me.

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