PlayStation gaming is a difficult hobby to dive into, millions of players around the world has their hands on their controllers playing non-stop for hours without end. Around the release of the PS5, scalping was at an all-time high making it difficult to track down and with retailers running out of stock due to limited supply and racing to place preorders, the PS5 still did well.
Analysts took a deeper look into Sony’s recent announcement about the PS5 expecting to sell 21 million units by the end of the fiscal year around March, which is quite disappointing after looking at the previous forecast which was 4 million units more. Clearly, people no longer have to struggle to procure a unit, unlike launch period. If PlayStation is struggling to keep its current generation machine: the PS5 afloat then it is clear that there is a massive problem.
PlayStation struggles to keep players engaged without Exclusive Hooks
Despite the demand for the hardware being weaker this time around, especially with the launch of the PS5 Slim which gave the console a revision and some added features such as having the ability to attach a disc drive to accommodate digital users in the event that they want to purchase physical copies of games couldn’t maintain the momentum.
Along with newer accessories such as the Pulse Explore Earbuds which is ideal for multiplayer party games, the PlayStation Portal is the dedicated handheld device for remote play and the DualSense Edge which is a better and sturdier controller than the stock DualSense. Sony also has a vested interest in accessibility controllers to be user friendly.
No First Party Exclusives, Stock Problems, and Xbox on the Move
The lack of first party exclusives from developers under the PlayStation Studios umbrella seriously harmed the brand, the driving force and selling point of owning a PS5 is that certain titles are locked and exclusively available on their specific platform and their disadvantage from a technical standpoint going up against the competition like Xbox and their flagship console: Xbox Series X.
Xbox’s premium model console is the preferred platform for users to play third party games and with a compelling library of games made available by their subscription service known as Xbox Game Pass makes it a hard sell to pick up a PS5 today, arguably.
The problem of having state of the art hardware is putting out high quality software, and with people transitioning to the digital age of media makes it convenient but also nerve wracking. There is a wide selection of critically acclaimed games provided by PS+ are available if users subscribed along with other benefits which helped maintain the relevancy of classic PS games
At the end of the day if they want to remain ahead of the race, Sony must devise solutions to not only maintain momentum but ensure long term dominance and customer loyalty.
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