No, the PS3 is not dead! There haven’t been any games in years and two generations separate us, but it’s still a hit! And we’re not talking about a few hundred machines here, no, we’re talking about millions.
It’s now been three years since the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles came onto the market. A new generation of machines that has had great difficulty gaining a foothold on the market, especially due to the famous COVID-19 pandemic. A very difficult context that shook the whole world and of course the industry for many months. A fight that really only ended at the beginning of the year (yes, yes, that wasn’t that long ago). The market situation is therefore quite worrying, in any case far from what we have a right to expect from the famous “Next Gen” that arrived at the end of 2020 with the PlayStation 5 and if we believe Sony’s figures allowed, Many players have not yet dared to take the step. Worse still, die-hard gamers still stick with their good old PS3 and it’s a good package!
The PS3 is still alive!
After the major hacker attack on the Insomniac studio, documents inventorying activities in the PlayStation ecosystem have leaked onto the Internet. Data highlighting the number of active accounts on PSN. This is not the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers, but rather the number of users who have connected their account and computer to PSN, quite simply. In total, as of February 2023, all platforms combined, there would be no fewer than 107 million active accounts. A dizzying number spread across three main consoles, yes we say three.
The PS5, the team’s new console, has around 38 million users. Its big sister, the PlayStation 4, still has more than 70 million players, which is colossal. But the most surprising thing about all of this is that the PS3 is still a hit with gamers! Yes, yes, she is also still very active. More than 1.9 million players were still using their machines in February 2023. However, there isn’t much to be found there anymore, online services are gradually disappearing (especially on the gaming side) and games haven’t been developed on the machine for years. But nothing helps, some players obviously don’t want to change dairy.
But the PS5 is finally on the rise!
We’re a long way from the old-fashioned migrations where everyone snapped up new machines like hotcakes. We feel like there’s still a bit of caution here when taking the plunge. And at the same time, after months of delays, we had to wait until 2023 for REAL new generation games to hit the market. And again, many of these are still cross-platform. Whether professional or player, everyone has difficulty making the transition.
However, it is good to note that the trends have changed significantly in 2023. PS5s are now much more accessible and are sold in full pallets all year round. The 40 million unit mark was crossed in July, while the 50 million mark was reached in December. The price increase obviously hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the players, even though the numerous promotions have certainly helped the machine to sell and this won’t end any time soon. A PS5 Slim has seen the light of day and will become the new standard for the brand, while a PS5 Pro is on the way in the coming years. The weather is looking pretty good on PlayStation.
