Sony claims nearly 30% of active PS5 users ‘never used PS4’

Nearly 30% of monthly active users on PlayStation 5 never used a PlayStation 4, Sony claims.

The claim was shared as part of a company presentation discussing its Q3 2022 results for this financial year (the period ending December 2022), in which Sony noted that the percentage of monthly active users increased by around 30% in December.

“In addition,” it said, “nearly 30% of PS5’s [monthly active users] are users who never used PS4, so, with the spread of PS5, the acquisition of new users is progressing”.

In a separate document, Sony defined monthly active users as, “an estimated total number of unique accounts that played games or used services on the PlayStation Network during
the last month of the quarter,” noting that it “is based on company research and may be updated in the future”.

It should be noted that because this refers to unique accounts that played games rather than individual console purchases, this could also include players creating multiple accounts in order to play games from multiple regions, or for family members.

Sony’s main message during its Q3 2022 results was that the period was PS5’s best sales quarter yet, selling 7.1 million units in the three months ended December 31, 2022 to reach 32 million consoles shipped.

Earlier this week, Sony signalled that PS5’s long battle with supply issues was finally over. “If you’re looking to purchase a PS5 console, you should now have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally,” it said.

Further reading

1

Sony expects PS5 to double PS4’s shipment record this quarter

The company has raised its quarterly PS5 shipment forecast to 6.2 million

Elsewhere in its report, it was shown that the total number of PlayStation Plus users stood at 46.4 million for Q3, down from 48 million a year earlier, but up from 45.5 million in the previous quarter ended on September 30, 2022.

That means PlayStation Plus subscribers are still down by nearly 1 million users since the revamped service launched in June.