The sales data from the European and US markets are clear: 2023 is the year of PS5which has been recording from month to month exceptional sales numbers imposing itself on the competition, particularly in the second half where we even saw triple-digit percentage growth on an annual basis in certain countries. All without who knows what great efforts, most of which are attributable to the marketing department and some price cuts with the right timing, whereas as regards exclusives, services and communication choices for many what ends up being a subdued year for PlayStation from a playful point of view.
As regards the exclusive we are faced with a year that is certainly less rich than the past and looking at the release calendar the only ones of real note are Final Fantasy 16, which is a time exclusive, and the excellent Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
A little bit if compared to last year's triptych made up of Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok, which if you look closely are all postponed from 2021. In short, we could certainly have expected more in the last few months and even from a future perspective the situation does not bode well, given that for the moment there is not even a PlayStation Studios game confirmed for 2024 with the exception of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered.
We also saw a substantial PlayStation Plus price increase in September which did not go down well with many, given that the price increases do not go hand in hand with an increase in the quality of the service, considering the negative reactions in recent months to the “free” games in the Essential tier and those included with Extra and Premium.
PlayStation 2023 was also a year characterized by disappointing events like the PlayStation Showcase in Maywhich aimed to electrify players with the first GaaS created by PlayStation Studios but achieved the opposite effect, and from communication that was in many cases detached and cold, see the announcements limited to the PlayStation Blog for important products such as PlayStation VR2 and PlayStation Portal.
Is there a lack of competition in the console market?
The resounding sales numbers of PS5 in 2023 can therefore be attributed in part to the great and deserved strength of the PlayStation brand that Sony has expertly built over the years, capable of holding its own even in a not particularly convincing year like the one just gone by.
But also atabsence of rivals: Xbox is a competitor with increasingly sharper claws (see Game Pass and the numerous acquisitions), but paradoxically less and less aggressive in the console sector, while Nintendo with Switch competes in the same market but on a path parallel to that of the PlayStation platforms.
However, things could change, and quite quickly too. In fact, 2024 will be a very important year for the market, given that we will most likely see the launch of the successor to Nintendo Switch and the first beneficial effects of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft in the Xbox ecosystem, which could spice things up a bit.
PlayStation for its part now does not seem to be in its best shape and could give the competition room for maneuver. In fact, at the moment the line-up of exclusives for 2024 is still nebulous, important changes are taking place at the top of SIE with the retirement of CEO Jim Ryan, while the turn towards the live service market continues to be unconvincing, especially after the postponement of numerous projects and rumors that there is a certain discontent with the strategy adopted by the company within PlayStation Studios.
In short, it will be really interesting to observe how the three big names in the console market will behave in the coming months, in the hope that the competition will be more intense than ever: in this sense we players will only have to gain, regardless of the “faction”.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial team and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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