Earlier
this
morning
Sony
held
a
business
meeting
discussing
various
aspects
of
the
company.
Of
course,
as
the
biggest
contributor
to
Sony’s
cashflow,
the
PlayStation
brand
was
heavily
featured
and
amongst
all
the
data
comes
some
interesting
tidbits
of
information.
One
such
tidbit
is
just
how
many
people
still
use
their
PS4s.
Hint:
it’s
more
than
you
might
think.

As
part
of
the
meeting,
PlayStation
boasted
that
the
PS5
has
“established
a
significant
installed
base”
that
accounts
for
half
of
the
monthly
active
consoles.
Yes,
half.
You
see,
the
other
half
is
made
up
of
PlayStation
4
users.

According
to
a
slide
in
Sony’s
document,
49m
PS4
users
still
log
on
every
month
which
is
tied
with
49m
PS5
users.

Now,
obviously
if
you
wanted
to
get
into
the
nitty-gritty
of
the
data
it
would
be
harder
to
break
down.
For
someone
to
count
as
a
monthly
user
they
simply
have
to
play
at
least
one
game
or
use
one
service,
so
a
few
PS4
users
are
likely
going
to
be
folk
using
the
console
as
a
streaming
device
for
Netflix,
Amazon
etc.

Fun
little
thing
I
noted:
if
56m
PS5s
have
been
sold,
that
means
7m
people
either
aren’t
using
their
machines
or
are
managing
to
stay
offline.

The
slide
also
shows
that
while
there
are
still
a
lot
of
people
using
their
PS4,
they
use
it
a
lot
less
than
PS5
owners
use
their
console.
According
to
the
data,
PS4
users
have
clocked
up
1.4
billion
gameplay
hours,
equating
to
roughly
28.5
hours
per
user,
while
PS5
users
have
racked
up
2.4
billion
hours,
which
is
about
48.9
hours
per
user.

It
is
however,
unclear
whether
this
is
hours
per
month
or
for
the
overall
lifespan.
I’m
going
to
assume
its
per
month
though,
because
1.4b
seems
far
too
low
for
the
PS4
considering
how
long
it
has
been
around.

But
while
the
monthly
users
are
tied
between
the
two
console
generations,
the
spending
isn’t.
According
to
Sony’s
data,
the
average
PS4
users
has
spent
$580
on
games,
add-ons,
services
and
so
on,
whereas
the
average
PS5
user
has
spent
$731.
That’s
a
difference
of
26%.

The
breakdown
is
quite
interesting
because
PS5
users
are
spending
12%
less
on
regular
full
games.
Instead,
they
are
spending
far
more
on
add-on
content
(up
by
176%
over
PS4)
and
services
(up
57%
over
PS4).

This
is
likely
due
to
the
rise
of
subscriptions,
and
live-service
games
packed
with
microtransactions
and
DLC.
Gamers
are
buying
less
full
games,
but
spending
a
lot
of
their
cash
on
existing,
long-running
titles
like
Fortnite.

All
of
this
adds
up
to
a
simple
conclusion:
the
PS5
is
Sony’s
most
profitable
generation
to
date.
According
to
Sony,
the
PS5
has
already
brought
in
$106b
in
sales
in
the
past
four
years,
compared
to
the
PS4’s
$107b
in
sales
achieved
over
seven
years.
The
PS5
also
boasts
$10b
in
operating
income
compared
to
the
PS4’s
$9b.

In
short,
things
are
looking
good
for
Sony.
While
the
PS5
has
sold
about
as
many
units
as
the
PS4
in
the
same
timeframe,
user
engagement
and
spending
are
both
stronger
than
the
PS4.

PlayStation
will
hold
a
State
of
Play
later
today.