«The waiting lists are over, Playstation 5 is back in stores». Here’s what happened
[ad_1]
After just over two years, it was November 2020, the Playstation shortage is practically over. “First of all, we thank our users for their patience – Marco Saletta Southern Europe General Manager of Sony Interactive Entertainment begins – but finally we believe the problem has been resolved, since we will be able to make a greater Ps5 offer available to users”.
The console shortage
With a global marketing and advertising campaign Playstation also announces in Italy that the “shortage” of the consoles is over. As Ps5 fans know well, for almost two years it was practically impossible to find the new gaming machine in stores and online. The reasons? As with other industries, a shortage of semiconductor chips has limited the production of electronic devices. Other supply chain issues brought on by the global coronavirus pandemic haven’t helped. The semiconductor crisis is not over but it has not been the same for everyone. “As far as we are concerned – the Sony manager comments to Il Sole 24 Ore – we have received an unprecedented request”.
How is the console war going?
For some context, according to VGChartz estimates, Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console globally between January 8 and December 10, 2022, totaling 17.36 million units purchased. PS5 follows in second place, which has exceeded Xbox Series X | S by 2.5 million. In December, Sony sold the most units of the PlayStation 5 ever, and overall sales since launch are now 30 million. Neither the supply difficulties nor inflation seem to have affected the affection for Playstation products which even underwent a 10 percent price increase in August. «God of War Ragnarok is an example – observes the manager -. The game was released in November and in the first week of its launch it reached 5.1 million copies sold globally becoming the fastest selling PlayStation Studios game ever.
The transformations of the gaming industry
A success that comes at a time of great transformation for the gaming industry. After the double-digit growth of the entire market driven by lockdowns and remote working, the players in this business are the protagonists of an unprecedented consolidation process. The Microsoft-Activision acquisition under consideration by the European and United States authorities, the entry of new all-you-can-eat paid formulas and the new EU rules on App Stores will have consequences on the way videogame entertainment is produced and sold . «It is true that behind the scenes of this market there are changes but we continue to go our way, in the sense that for us the market has not changed. They continue to do what they do best which is to innovate gaming. This is demonstrated by the launch of the new, fully customizable Dual Sense Edge pro player controller. Or the Christmas success of the colorful DualSense Controllers (there are six ed) and also on the cloud gaming front in the summer we remodeled our Playstation Plus subscription formula and it was positively received by our audience. At the end of February, on the 22nd to be exact, Playstation Vr2 will be released, the new virtual reality viewer which contains numerous technological innovations at the hardware level».
What changes for Playstation
At the level of the business model, however, some changes have been introduced. And also not small. Such as, for example, the decision to also offer one’s video games on PCs, somehow breaking the taboo of always having one’s best titles exclusively on the Playstation platform. There is also a greater interest in making video game content truly multimedia by bringing its IP (intellectual properties) to the cinema and the TV series market, as happened in the case of Uncharted (on the big screen), The Last of the USA the series on Sky or the film inspired by the racing game Gran Turismo which was announced at this year’s CES. From a financial point of view they represent new sources of revenue for Playstation and for Sony as a group. To which must now be added a greater offer of Ps5. As communicated in the quarterly at a global level, Sony has increased production and expanded the portfolio of games for PS5. The company at the time forecast sales of 18 million units in the commercial year to the end of March compared to 11.5 million a year earlier. In this respect, comments the manager, the predictions are confirmed.
[ad_2]
Source link
