Launched in the US and Japan on November 12, 2020 and landing in Europe a few days later, PlayStation 5 is two years old and here we will assess the state of the Sony platform, the innovations it has introduced during these first twenty-four months and which are still on the horizon.
The best-selling console worldwide in the third quarter of 2022, the PS5 reaffirms that it is the object of desire for most users, thanks to its still limited availability. The flagship of the Japanese house embodies an air of undeniable charm and incomprehensibility.
Sales, availability and price
With 25 million units sold as of September 30, PS5 left behind a second year, which is very similar in number to the first year. a merit record second quarterWith 3.3 million units added to those already deployed, it resulted in a significant increase in the console’s user base as the situation in stores improved.
this sales In short, they rewarded the Sony console against all odds (we’ll get there in a moment), at least once again making the Xbox Series X|S a certain margin compared to its direct competition, according to sales data. PlayStation and Xbox provided by Microsoft prior to UK antitrust in the context of well-known investigations into the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
factor availability It played and continues to play an extremely important role in the success of the PS5, but it is clear that things are not as they were twenty-four months ago: the famous semiconductor crisis hurts less and the production chain has been reorganized, but other elements of difficulty have entered the field.
Second, it pushed Sony into a decision that had never been made before: to raise the price of the PlayStation 5 two years after its release, at a time when there was an overall downward adjustment to price lists due to lower production costs and lower assembly. . A move that covers almost all regions except the USA, increasing the standard version from €499.99 to €549.99 and the Digital Edition from €399.99 to €449.99.
PlayStation Plus revolution
The second year of the PS5’s life was undoubtedly one of the big decisions: On the one hand, the aforementioned price increase, which in no way contributed to improving the image of Jim Ryan’s management, was considered by many to be business-focused. and away from the true passions of users; on the other hand PlayStation Plus revolutionAfter months of hesitation, he finally tried to take a new path.
Available since last June, the new PlayStation Plus embodies the features offered by the PlayStation Now streaming platform. three different subscription types: Essential, classic edition with online multiplayer and a selection of monthly games for PS5 and PS4; Extra adds a catalog of nearly four hundred downloadable titles to this pack at no extra cost; and finally Premium, which also sees the existence of the classic PlayStation and streaming.
In fact, the huge amount of content reserved for the Extra and Premium tiers is very similar to the play-as-you-go experience that has always characterized. Xbox Game Passwith one difference, though not insignificant: no exclusive first-party involvement since launch;
After a particularly aggressive debut, the new PlayStation Plus has inevitably slowed down by focusing on lower-value older games, but it looks like the revolution Sony wanted hasn’t made its way yet: in the last quarter subscribers decreased It went from 47.2 million to 45.4 million, so the increase that the Japanese company expected did not materialize, at least in absolute terms.
second year games
While the latest-generation consoles have gotten us used to it, especially with short learning times, to make the most of the hardware available to developers, quality of games tends to increase thanks to the experience gained and the improvement of tools.
From this perspective, the PS5 is no exception, but the console is one year in the second year of its life. intergenerational approach It legitimately voted not to exclude the more than a hundred million users who still own a PlayStation 4. There were also reissues like Uncharted: The Thieves’ Legacy Collection that had very good opening value to 2022.
Remaining in the exclusive first-party arena, the outstanding Horizon Forbidden West debuted in February and a few weeks later, in March, Gran Turismo 7 followed: great value for PlayStation Studios, capable of smashing a rivalry, Xbox’s line-up still effectively cannot edit.
This was followed by six months, when the PlayStation 5 was of interest. third party productions Dying Light 2: Stay Human, the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 and Grand Theft Auto V, the incredible Elden Ring, and then again Ghostwire: Tokyo, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Stray and a thrilling Tale of Plague: Lament.
At this point, Sony began to re-enter the market with titles in the caliber of The Last of Us Part 1, a much discussed and acclaimed remake, and of course, God of War Ragnarok, which will act as a companion to the console during the game. Christmas period: According to preliminary findings, the new installment of the Santa Monica Studio series seems to be doing really well.
Have we seen a clear improvement in the offering compared to the PS5’s first year? actually quality level The number of experiences, especially those packaged by PlayStation Studios, has remained stable from the start, but the tech innovations we’ll likely see from 2023 are still lacking, again thanks to the aforementioned cross-generational approach.
The future
While the PS5 first-party catalog for 2023 is still sketchy, only Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has already been made official, but with a few announcements (perhaps during The Game Awards 2022: Death Stranding 2?) and some notable special thunderstorms (Forspoken, Final) Fantasy 16, Silent Hill 2) Sony console, which has been established for a while, is definitely not a software future.
THEM Playstation Studios They have always shown that they know how to work very well, with great concreteness, and they will not fail to repeat themselves next year. In addition, the catalog can count on outstanding third-party support, from Dead Space to Dead Island 2, Hogwarts Legacy to Resident Evil 4 remakes, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. As we go through Street Fighter 6, we’ll have nothing to complain about.
In terms of hardware, the future of the PlayStation 5 is less clear. On the one hand, we know that the new PlayStation VR2 will arrive on February 22. virtual reality headset promises wonders, but given its significant cost, it will need to be able to persuade even skeptics to build a sufficient audience; On the other hand, there are increasingly persistent rumors of a redesign of the console that could somehow make it more compact and efficient, combining editions to bring a single model to the stores that can be removed and therefore equipped with an optional disk reader.
Of course, there’s also talk of a mid-gen hardware overhaul, and one will come eventually. ps5 pro this can push platform features to the point where it can more easily handle demanding technologies like ray tracing. On that front, however, the timing tends to widen as the hypotheses get smokier: it’s too early to talk about that, but there’s no doubt that Sony is considering all options.
Source: Multiplayer
